The performance of autonomous personal protective suites depends to a large extent on the air purification system, which purifies the incoming air from contaminants such as viruses (e.g. Ebola), potent drugs or hazardous gases. Filtration efficiency is always a compromise between high separation efficiency on the one hand and a high air flow on the other hand. Nanofibers have attracted the attention of filter development due to their ability of reducing the pore size of a filter without reducing the free filter area. However, physical limits of nanofiber based filters are met these days.
Together with TB-safety AG, we are opting for new opportunities by creating 3D architecture from the intrinsically flat nanofiber based filters.

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Bio

Christian Adlhart obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry at ETH Zurich in 2003. After a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Oslo he was working for Ciba and later BASF where he headed the group of surface and nano analytics.
He joined ZHAW in 2010 as a lecturer where he is now heading the center for functional materials and nanotechnology. His research is focused on nanofibers and their transformation into 3D architectures. Such bio-based materials are exploited solid/gas, solute/liquid and liquid/liquid separation or as support for enzymes or as scaffolds for tissue engineering.