Experimental investigation and numerical modeling of the orientation angle of silver nanowires passing through polyester filters

In the present study, we measured the penetration of silver nanowires with the mobility diameter in the range from 200 to 400 nm through two different types of polyester filters: the screen filter with the solidity of 0.505 and fibrous filter with the solidity of 0.278. The orientation angles of silver nanowires passing through the single layer and multi-layers of polyester filter were experimentally estimated on the basis of the single fiber efficiency theory. In the case of the screen filter, the orientation angle obtained by fitting the experimental data for single layer was found to be close to 40?, indicating a random orientation of nanowires near the filter. However, the fibrous filter has the orientation angle much larger than 40?. The orientation angle can be affected by inhomogeneity of the filter. In particular, in the case of the fibrous filter, the solidity and fiber diameter may affect the orientation angle. For multi-layers of both screen and fibrous filters, it is difficult to determine the typical orientation angle and the fibrous filter tends to have a larger orientation angle than the screen filter. In addition, we carried out numerical simulations on the penetration of silver nanowires through the five layers of screen filter and the single layer of both screen and fibrous filters. Numerical prediction was carried out by using the three-dimensional numerical model determined by solidity and thickness of fibrous filter. Numerical predictions are highly congruent with experimental results and theoretical prediction.

© 2017 American Association for Aerosol Research