Introduction of amino and rGO into PP nonwoven surface for removal of gaseous aromatic pollutants and particulate matter from air

Gaseous aromatic pollutants such as benzene, toluene or xylene and particulate matter (PM) from an individual's living environment potentially cause serious and life-threatening health problems. A new bifunctional individual protection material was prepared by grafting polymerization and electrostatic self-assembly method. The individual protection material has a dual function layer consisting of an amino-functionalized nonwoven grafted with dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and a gaseous aromatic pollutant adsorption layer made up of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The surface composition and structure of materials were obtained by a series of characterization methods. Adsorption and filtration performance for each function layer and double function layer Polypropylene (PP) nonwoven were intensively studied. As indicated by the experiments, the adsorption efficiency of PP-g-DMAEMA/rGO increased with the decreasing oxygen content of GO and increasing the initial concentration of toluene, filter performance and aperture parameters data showed that the surface Zeta potential and pore size had great influence on filtration efficiency of the filter material, the resulting PP nonwoven exhibited prominent multifunctional performance, including a higher adsorption amount (39.1 mg/g) and filter efficiency (72.2%). Consequently, it is expected that the bifunctional PP nonwoven will have potential applications in air purification for the removal of gaseous aromatic pollutants and PM.