Fabrication and Characterization of Electrospun Recycled PET and rPET/MWCNTs Membranes for Submicron Particle Filtration
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The accumulation of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles represents a critical environmental challenge. This study upcycles recycled PET (rPET) reinforced with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via electrospinning at 8, 10, and 12 kV to fabricate electrospun filtration membranes. Increasing the voltage reduced the average fiber diameter from 1006.68 ± 402.24 nm to 283.66 ± 75.08 nm, while MWCNTs incorporation slightly increased fiber size and decreased porosity. The pure rPET membrane showed its highest tensile modulus at 10 kV, with a value of 64.30 ± 24.27 MPa. The rPET/MWCNT membranes had higher tensile modulus values than the corresponding rPET membranes, but their tensile strength was lower at similar voltage levels. At 482°C, the rPET/MWCNT membrane showed lower measured mass loss than the rPET membrane. However, because the final residue differed much more than expected from the nominal MWCNT content, this result cannot be explained by MWCNT addition alone. Moisture management testing revealed rapid liquid absorption and gradual drying across all samples. The membranes achieved particulate filtration efficiencies above 96% for nominal 0.3 µm particles and approximately 97% for 0.5 µm particles under the laboratory screening conditions applied in this study. Overall, the results confirm the laboratory-scale feasibility of producing electrospun filtration membranes from post-consumer PET. However, reproducibility, MWCNT dispersion and release, long-term durability, solvent safety, and standardized filtration performance require further investigation.
Source: Nano Trends
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,000
OpenAlex ID: W7214441543