Morphological traits essential to electrospun and grafted Nylon-6 nanofiber membranes for capturing submicron simulated exhaled breath aerosols

As contagious bio-aerosols continue to impact our society, we examine how the morphological traits of large-scale (15 cm x 93 cm), uniformly thick, electrospun Nylon membranes can contribute to the development of diagnostic, sensor driven face masks for capturing exhaled breath content. In our study, we compare the capture efficiencies of three types of large-scale Nylon-6 nanofiber membranes against those of commercial control textiles for capturing in-lab simulated salt breath aerosols. One of the electrospun membranes was also surface functionalized via grafting technique. The fabrication, functionalization, and exhaled aerosol capture of these large-scale membranes underscores the importance of assessing the lifetime, and usability, of electrospun materials before future integration with diagnostic sensing platforms can be successfully achieved.