Titanium carbide Ti3C2Tx (MXene) enhanced PAN nanofiber membrane for air purification

Highly effective air filters are needed because of the increasing harm caused by air particulate matter pollution. Herein, two-dimensional titanium carbide Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene nanosheets with active surface-terminating groups (O, OH and F) were used to modify the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber filters to strengthen their interaction force with PM2.5 . These forces were measured quantitatively through the force-distance curve-based AFM showing that the MXene modification of the PAN fiber induces three times larger interaction forces than before. The obtained filters show high PM2.5 removal efficiency of ∼99.7% with a low pressure drop of ∼42 Pa. Moreover, the presence of MXene nanosheets strongly inhibits the propagation of bacteria (e.g. E. coli and S. aureus ) in the filters. Such filters can significantly improve air quality, especially in public places such as hospitals.