Air-filtration has played an increasingly important role in keeping desired indoor air quality in spite of the heavily polluted air that has worsened by human being’s activities. Because the compositions of the pollutants present in the air are so complex and uncontrollable, traditional air-filtering materials produced from non-degradable plastics or glass fibers are facing a big challenge of effectively removing not only the particulate pollutants, such as PM_2.5, but also gaseous pollutants, including toxic chemicals, and bacteria and so forth. These materials are also non-degradable and end up in landfills. As a result, development of new multi-functional filtering materials to satisfy the fast-growing community of air-filtration is currently in a critical need. Natural materials that are well known for their richness in functional groups and suitability for many applications represent a promising material solution for high-performance air-filtration. In addition, these materials are sustainable, and their inherent bio-degradability makes them a green solution. In this review, we summarize the significant studies on using polymeric materials for air-filtration with an emphasis on natural biomaterials. In specific, the characteristics of polluted air, the air filter types and filtering materials are briefly summarized. The advantages of developing green air filters from natural polymers as well as the challenges are highlighted.

中文翻译：

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迈向可持续和多功能空气过滤器：基于生物聚合物的过滤材料的回顾

尽管空气污染严重，但由于人类活动而恶化，空气过滤在保持室内空气质量方面发挥着越来越重要的作用。由于空气中污染物的成分是如此复杂且不可控制，因此由不可降解的塑料或玻璃纤维制成的传统空气过滤材料面临着巨大的挑战，即不仅要有效地去除颗粒污染物，例如PM _2.5，也包括气态污染物，包括有毒化学物质和细菌等。这些材料也是不可降解的，最终进入垃圾填埋场。结果，当前迫切需要开发新的多功能过滤材料，以满足快速增长的空气过滤界。以其丰富的官能团和对许多应用的适用性而闻名的天然材料代表了一种用于高性能空气过滤的有前途的材料解决方案。此外，这些材料具有可持续性，其固有的生物降解性使其成为绿色解决方案。在这篇综述中，我们总结了使用聚合材料进行空气过滤的重要研究，重点是天然生物材料。具体而言，受污染空气的特征 简要概述了空气过滤器的类型和过滤材料。强调了用天然聚合物开发绿色空气过滤器的优点以及所面临的挑战。