Polypropylene Nonwoven Fabric Filters Containing Graphene Oxide: A Streamlined Approach to Enhance Ultrafine Particulate Matter Removal

ABSTRACT Airborne particulate matter (PM) is one of the main atmospheric pollutants and is associated with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and increased mortality. Ultrafine particles with aerodynamic diameter below 100 nm (PM 0.1 ) undergo structure and chemical transformations due to their high surface area and reactivity, acting as precursors of harmful and persistent particles. This work aimed to fabricate and characterize polypropylene nonwoven fabric (NWF‐PP) filters incorporated with graphene oxide (GO) to improve PM filtration. Commercial melt‐blown filters were modified with the surfactant Pluronic F‐127 and GO using spray and immersion protocols. GO coating spread over the fibers forming a film that progressively covered filter pores as nanostructure density improved. Therefore, lower quantities of GO performed better in removing airborne particles because of higher permeabilities. The as‐prepared NWF‐PP/GO demonstrated higher filtration efficiency (80.4%) for oily PM 0.1 than the uncovered filter (66.2%) due to the presence of oxygen‐containing functional groups. It also maintained a low pressure drop (18.6 Pa) and a high‐quality factor (~0.086 Pa −1 ) at a face velocity of 4.7 cm/s. Overall, the incorporation protocol turned out to be efficient to enhance the filtration performance, emerging as a viable and promising strategy for new materials development.