Recycled Synthetic Polymer-Based Electrospun Membranes for Filtering Applications

Synthetic polymers have been widely applied in various commercial and household applications owing to their fascinating properties of low-cost, lightweight, and processability. However, increasing population and living standards and rising demand for non-biodegradable polymers have led to the accumulation of plastic pollution resulting in the current environmental crisis. Current waste management methods such as landfilling or incineration do not solve these environmental issues. On the other hand, recycling plastic waste is the most valuable strategy for dealing with waste as raw material for high-value products. One of such products is filter membranes. Polymer fiber membranes as masks in pandemics have been one of the most sought-after products in recent years. Some types of plastic waste became a material source for the development of filter materials, which could contribute to the protection of human health. Utilizing the simple, cheap, and industrially available technological solution is also needed. Given the number of advantages, electrospinning is such a beneficial solution. The electrospun polymer waste-based membranes show excellent filtration performance and can carry many other functionalities. Therefore, this review article presents a brief overview of electrospun nanofibrous membranes based on synthetic plastic waste and summarizes the filtration performance of such membranes. This review will discuss the future perspectives of electrospun membranes as well.