From PET Bottle Waste to Antimicrobial Air Filters

The accumulation of large amounts of plastic waste in the environment necessitates developing new methods for processing this waste on both small and large scales. This work shows the electrospinning approach for the recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) water bottles made of virgin and recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) enriched with silver particles of various sizes, ranging from 50 to 400 nm to produce electrospun air filtration materials. Their physicochemical and mechanical properties are evaluated. The samples containing 50-60 nm nanoparticles in their structure exhibit the best mechanical properties and are further investigated in terms of their filtration efficiency and antibacterial properties. The results demonstrate high air filtration performance, with efficiency over 99% for particles larger than 1 µm in diameter. Additionally, the filters showed antibacterial effectiveness against Staphylococcus epidermidis, achieving a reduction in bacterial growth ranging from 66% to 86%, depending on the type of tested PET and rPET-based material.