Lotus Leaf Powder-Reinforced Banana Peel Extract/PVA Electrospun Nanofibers for High-Performance Particulate Matter Filtration

Abstract

The development of sustainable air filtration materials from renewable resources offers an approach to mitigating particulate matter (PM) pollution while reducing dependence on petroleum-based filtration media. In this study, biomass-derived BPE/LLP/PVA composite nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning using banana peel extract (BPE), lotus leaf powder (LLP), and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to incorporate LLP as a biobased reinforcing filler in electrospun nanofibers for PM filtration. The effect of LLP loading (0.1–0.6 g) on physicochemical properties and filtration performance was investigated. The optimized formulation containing 0.5 g BPE, 0.4 g LLP, and 1.5 g PVA exhibited an average fiber diameter of 85 ± 10.94 nm, a WCA of 64.6 ± 2.1°, and a tensile strength of 3.1 ± 0.1 MPa. The developed nanofibers achieved filtration efficiencies of 98.34 ± 0.40% for 0.18 μm particles and 99.99 ± 0.01% for 2.1–10.0 μm particles, with a quality factor (Qf) of 0.050 ± 0.001 Pa–1, comparable to that of a commercial H14 HEPA filter (0.0590 ± 0.0015 Pa–1) over the corresponding particle-size ranges. These findings demonstrate the potential of BPE/LLP/PVA nanofibers as biomass-derived filtration media, while contributing to biomass valorization and waste minimization.