Plant-mimicking biodegradable nanofibers for enhanced PM capturing and AI-assisted high-accuracy respiratory diagnosis

The concept of biomimetic spinning has shown great promise to provide precision control over the hierarchical morphology of polymer nanofibers, endowing the nanofibrous membranes (NFMs) with multifunction integration like high porosity and surface activity. Here, we attempted to construct the plant-mimicking features in ecofriendly poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nanofibers by coaxial electrospinning, permitting well-controlled generation of MOF-protruding micro-bulges (10, 20 and 30 wt%) secreted in the refined PLA nanofibers. The unique biomimicking architecture was hypothesized to impart dielectric and electret properties, giving rise to significant fiber refinement and long-term electrostatic adsorption for the bioinspired PLA (B-PLA) nanofibers. The PM-capturing mechanisms could be further enhanced by ultrahigh surface activity, as exemplified by ultrahigh removal efficiencies (over 99.7 % and 99.3 %) for both PM 0.3 and PM 2.5 in the broad-range airflow rates (10–85 L/min), while providing well-controlled air resistance. Moreover, the B-PLA NFMs were examined to efficiently remove oily PMs (over 94.4 % for PM 0.3 and 95.3 % for PM 2.5 ), far surpassing normal PLA counterpart (only 61.4 % and 72.0 %, respectively). Sustainable respiration-driven charge regeneration was demonstrated for the electroactive B-PLA NFMs, allowing real-time respiratory monitoring and AI-assisted high-accuracy diagnosis (as high as 97.1 %). The proposed bioinspired electrospinning strategy can provide a versatile platform that integrates with structure-by-bionics concept and useful property improvements for engineering multifunctional protective membranes.