High-speed shear-induced micro regenerated cellulose materials preparation: A promising solution for highly efficient and low pressure drop air filtration using agricultural waste

Cellulose has attracted much attention in application of air filtration for the excellent ability of degradability and biocompatibility. However, limited by the strength of natural structure, air filters based on native cellulose usually have high pressure drop (ΔP) or thick volume. In this study, an efficient air filter was produced with low ΔP (6.8 Pa) using a low amount of dry material (9 ∼ 12 mg/cm 3 ) through simple preparation process with high-speed shear induced. Analysis showed the chains of regenerated cellulose (RC) were stretched and arranged orderly due to the shear induced during the entire coagulation process, letting to an increasing of crystalline of RC. Furthermore, RC filter exhibited a high PM2.5 capture efficiency (over 99.65 %) with high-quality factor (0.853 Pa −1 ) under high PM concentration conditions. This work gave a novel sight on the potential of air filtration produced by agricultural waste bioresources furthermore, offered an interesting and simple avenue for daily respiratory protective media.