Effects of additive integration on pore morphology and airflow resistance in cellulose nanofibril air filters.

Olya, SGM; Miraboutalebi, SM; Alinaghipour, B; Nguyen, TV; Rainey, T

Effects of additive integration on pore morphology and airflow resistance in cellulose nanofibril air filters.

Olya, SGM Miraboutalebi, SM Alinaghipour, B Nguyen, TV Rainey, T

Permalink

Publisher:: Elsevier BV
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Int J Biol Macromol, 2026, 384, pp. 154835
Issue Date:: 2026-10-12

Open Access

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Open Access

This item is open access.

Adobe PDF

Download Published VersionAdobe PDF (17.11 MB)

View on publisher's site

View statistics

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Olya, SGM
dc.contributor.author	Miraboutalebi, SM
dc.contributor.author	Alinaghipour, B
dc.contributor.author	Nguyen, TV
dc.contributor.author	Rainey, T
dc.date.accessioned	2026-10-15T22:43:56Z
dc.date.available	2026-10-10
dc.date.available	2026-10-15T22:43:56Z
dc.date.issued	2026-10-12
dc.identifier.citation	Int J Biol Macromol, 2026, 384, pp. 154835
dc.identifier.issn	0141-8130
dc.identifier.issn	1879-0003
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/197228
dc.description.abstract	Cellulose nanofibril (CNF, derived from renewable plant cell walls,) films fabricated via doctor blade-freeze-drying offer a potential sustainable platform for air filtration. However, how functional additive integration pathways alter pore morphology and airflow behaviour remains insufficiently understood. This study investigated how structural variation and two additive integration pathways influenced pore morphology, permeability, and filtration performance in doctor blade-freeze-dried CNF filters. Graphene oxide (GO) and green-synthesised ZIF-L (LE-ZIF-L) were selected as representative 2D sheet and microcrystalline additives. First, film thickness and CNF concentration were varied to establish baseline morphology-airflow and filtration relationships. Then, bulk incorporation and surface-localised deposition of selected additives were examined. Increasing film thickness and CNF concentration improved filtration efficiency by up to 9-fold but reduced permeability from (3.8 ± 0.4) × 10-11 to (8.1 ± 2.5) × 10-13 m2 while increasing normalised pressure drop. Bulk additive incorporation increased network densification and structural heterogeneity, yielding high normalised pressure drops for GO (24.9 ± 2.5 Pa.m2.g-1) and LE-ZIF-L (10.4 ± 2.1 Pa.m2.g-1), accompanied by reduced permeability. Surface-localised deposition of additives resulted in lower pressure drops than their bulk incorporation at the investigated loadings, but still increased airflow resistance relative to baseline CNF films, even at low mass loadings, likely due to restriction of surface pore entrances. Although 25-pass LE-ZIF-L deposition achieved the highest PM2.5 filtration efficiency (43.3%), the accompanying pressure loss prevented a substantial improvement in the filtration quality factor. Overall, the results demonstrated that structural modification and additive distribution altered pore morphology and airflow resistance, highlighting their importance in the design of doctor blade-freeze-dried CNF filters.
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	Elsevier BV
dc.relation.ispartof	Int J Biol Macromol
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2026.154835
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
dc.subject.classification	Polymers
dc.subject.classification	3101 Biochemistry and cell biology
dc.title	Effects of additive integration on pore morphology and airflow resistance in cellulose nanofibril air filters.
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	384
utslib.location.activity	Netherlands
utslib.for	0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Civil, Environmental & Sociotechnical Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups/Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater (CTWW)
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2026-10-15T22:43:47Z
pubs.publication-status	Published online
pubs.volume	384

Abstract:

Cellulose nanofibril (CNF, derived from renewable plant cell walls,) films fabricated via doctor blade-freeze-drying offer a potential sustainable platform for air filtration. However, how functional additive integration pathways alter pore morphology and airflow behaviour remains insufficiently understood. This study investigated how structural variation and two additive integration pathways influenced pore morphology, permeability, and filtration performance in doctor blade-freeze-dried CNF filters. Graphene oxide (GO) and green-synthesised ZIF-L (LE-ZIF-L) were selected as representative 2D sheet and microcrystalline additives. First, film thickness and CNF concentration were varied to establish baseline morphology-airflow and filtration relationships. Then, bulk incorporation and surface-localised deposition of selected additives were examined. Increasing film thickness and CNF concentration improved filtration efficiency by up to 9-fold but reduced permeability from (3.8 ± 0.4) × 10-11 to (8.1 ± 2.5) × 10-13 m2 while increasing normalised pressure drop. Bulk additive incorporation increased network densification and structural heterogeneity, yielding high normalised pressure drops for GO (24.9 ± 2.5 Pa.m2.g-1) and LE-ZIF-L (10.4 ± 2.1 Pa.m2.g-1), accompanied by reduced permeability. Surface-localised deposition of additives resulted in lower pressure drops than their bulk incorporation at the investigated loadings, but still increased airflow resistance relative to baseline CNF films, even at low mass loadings, likely due to restriction of surface pore entrances. Although 25-pass LE-ZIF-L deposition achieved the highest PM2.5 filtration efficiency (43.3%), the accompanying pressure loss prevented a substantial improvement in the filtration quality factor. Overall, the results demonstrated that structural modification and additive distribution altered pore morphology and airflow resistance, highlighting their importance in the design of doctor blade-freeze-dried CNF filters.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/197228