A Double-Grafted Pet Fiber Material to Remove Airborne Pathogens with High Efficiency

Abstract

Air pollution caused by bacteria and viruses has posed a serious threat to public health. Commercial air purifiers based on dense fibrous filters can remove particulate matter including airborne pathogens, but do not kill them efficiently. Here, we applied antibacterial photodynamic therapy to air filtration and developed a double-grafted antibacterial fiber material. Tetracarboxyl substituted phthalocyanine zinc, a photosensitizer, was grafted onto the polyester (PET) fiber, followed by coating with chitosan on the surface of PET fiber to make a double-grafted fiber material. Under the irradiation of light with a specific wavelength (680 nm), double-grafted fiber material killed up to 99.99% of Gram-positive bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria, and had a significant antibacterial effect on drug-resistant bacteria. The double-grafted PET fiber showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activities, even killing 99.99% of drug-resistant bacteria. Notably, this double-grafted PET fiber demonstrated a high bacteria filtration efficiency (95.68%), which was better than the untreated PET fiber (64.87%). Besides, the double-grafted PET fiber was capable of efficiently killing airborne bacteria. This work provided a new idea for the development of air filtration materials that can efficiently kill the airborne pathogen and has good biosafety.

Keywords: polyester, Air Filtration, phthalocyanine, photodynamic, Chitosan