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P. Giri et al.
2 Problem Statement
Toxicity of cigarette filters increases along with smoking, as significant amount of
tar and chemical components gets absorbed [18]. These types of filters usually take
up to 18 months to degrade normally, and are significant source of pollution for our
surroundings and marine life [19]. Therefore, people eventually end up consuming a
part of the toxic chemicals via biomagnification which otherwise are avoided in the
mainstream cigarette smoke by filtration. Thus, it is crucial to restrict these filters to be
exposed in the surrounding. Also, these cigarette filters are hardly reused and hence
an alternative usage of these filter membrane, which contain carbon-rich elements, in
terms of energy applications may open a plethora of options for further study. Here,
in this work we have demonstrated the application of electrospun PAN nanofibers as
efficient cigarette filter which can be further reused for energy storage application,
thus completing a waste to energy nexus.
3 Methodology
3.1 Materials
Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) (mol. wt. = 150 kDa) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich.
The solvent of the polymer is N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) which was purchased
from Alfa-Aesar.
3.2 Electrospinning and Membrane Preparation
PAN was dissolved in DMF to prepare a 9 wt.% solution. The mixture was stirred
at 40 °C and 300 rpm for 12 h. The solution was electrospun with a conventional
laboratory assembled setup, the schematics of which is shown in Fig. 1. Solution was
pumped through an 18-gauge needle at a flow rate of 1.2 mL/h using syringe pump
purchased from New Era Inc. High voltage of 8 kV was supplied while maintaining
the needle to collector distance of 12 cm. The collector was a rotating drum which
was rotated at 100 rpm. The membrane was collected after 8 h of electrospinning.
The physical image of the membrane is also shown in Fig. 1 (inset).
3.3 Characterization
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for the architectural study of filter
membrane—before and after filtration of the filter membranes.
P. Giri et al.
2 Problem Statement
Toxicity of cigarette filters increases along with smoking, as significant amount of
tar and chemical components gets absorbed [18]. These types of filters usually take
up to 18 months to degrade normally, and are significant source of pollution for our
surroundings and marine life [19]. Therefore, people eventually end up consuming a
part of the toxic chemicals via biomagnification which otherwise are avoided in the
mainstream cigarette smoke by filtration. Thus, it is crucial to restrict these filters to be
exposed in the surrounding. Also, these cigarette filters are hardly reused and hence
an alternative usage of these filter membrane, which contain carbon-rich elements, in
terms of energy applications may open a plethora of options for further study. Here,
in this work we have demonstrated the application of electrospun PAN nanofibers as
efficient cigarette filter which can be further reused for energy storage application,
thus completing a waste to energy nexus.
3 Methodology
3.1 Materials
Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) (mol. wt. = 150 kDa) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich.
The solvent of the polymer is N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) which was purchased
from Alfa-Aesar.
3.2 Electrospinning and Membrane Preparation
PAN was dissolved in DMF to prepare a 9 wt.% solution. The mixture was stirred
at 40 °C and 300 rpm for 12 h. The solution was electrospun with a conventional
laboratory assembled setup, the schematics of which is shown in Fig. 1. Solution was
pumped through an 18-gauge needle at a flow rate of 1.2 mL/h using syringe pump
purchased from New Era Inc. High voltage of 8 kV was supplied while maintaining
the needle to collector distance of 12 cm. The collector was a rotating drum which
was rotated at 100 rpm. The membrane was collected after 8 h of electrospinning.
The physical image of the membrane is also shown in Fig. 1 (inset).
3.3 Characterization
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for the architectural study of filter
membrane—before and after filtration of the filter membranes.