Bridged Conductive Nanofibrous Membrane Overcoming the Porosity‐Conductivity Trade‐Off for Electrothermal Air Purification
Emerging conductive porous materials hold remarkable promise for Joule-heating applications like electothermal filtration, smart textiles, and energy management due to their porous and conductive synergy. However, their development is constrained by a design trade-off between achieving high porosity for efficient flow transmission and maintaining a conductive network for effective charge transport. To overcome this, a bridged conductive nanofibrous membrane (BCNM) by linking polypyrrole-coated nanofibers via self-assembled polypyrrole nanowires is developed. This dual-state network establishes continuous electron pathways while preserving multiscale porous channels, orchestrating air permeation, particulate capture, and electrothermal sterilization for all-in-one air purification. Leveraging this synergy, BCNM captures 98.79% of >0.3 µm particles under an ultra-low pressure drop of 76 Pa and instantaneously self-heats to 100 °C at low power to sterilize 99.49% of airborne bacteria. These performances compare favorably with leading conductive porous materials in both filtration performance and energy economy. A proof-of-concept solar-powered purifier incorporating the BCNM outperforms existing purification technologies in terms of filtration, sterilization, energy efficiency, and cost. This work offers an innovative material-structure-function paradigm for developing energy-interactive porous materials, with broad potential in smart filtration, biomedical protection, and sustainable energy systems.
Authors
- Xiaoxue Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5554-2099)
- Qili Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3881-9217)
- Wenzhu Lin
- Yang Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7034-2792)
- Bee Luan Khoo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1100-9994)
- Steven Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9192-349X)
- Zehua Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5546-7631)
- Wei Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7803-0803)
- Zhenwen Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5369-0119)
- Guo Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0378-466X)
- C. Q. Feng
Institutions
- Guangdong University of Technology (CN)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- City University of Hong Kong (HK)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2025-11-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202508650
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.73