Nanofibres have gained attention for their highly porous structure, narrow pore size, and high specific surface area. One of the most efficient techniques for producing nanofibres is electrospinning. These fibres are used in various fields, including water filtration. Although they possess the ability to filter various components, the fibres generally have low mechanical strength, which can mitigate their performance over time. To address this, studies have focused on enhancing nanofibre membrane strength for water filtration. Previous analyses show that the mechanical properties of nanofibre mats can be improved through solvent vapour treatment, thermal treatment, and chemical crosslinking. These treatments promote interfibre bonding, leading to the improvement of mechanical strength. However, excessive treatment alters nanofibre behaviour. Excessive heat exposure reduces interfibre bonding, while too much solvent vapour decreases pore size and mechanical strength. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of these post-treatments is crucial. This review examines post-treatments aiming to increase the mechanical strength of nanofibre mats, discussing their advantages and disadvantages. Understanding these treatments is essential for optimising nanofibre membrane performance in water filtration and other applications.

Nanofibre-based membranes have shown great potential for removing textile wastewater due to their high porosity and surface area. However, nanofibre membranes exhibit lower dye removal efficiency. Hence, this study aims to improve the dye removal performance of nanofibre membranes by incorporating zeolites. The research involved fabricating composite membranes by electrospinning polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibres incorporated with zeolites. Mechanical strength was enhanced by placing the PVA/zeolite nanofibre membrane between fusible nonwoven interfacing and woven polyester fabric, followed by heat treatment. Morphological analysis revealed the uniform dispersion of zeolite particles within the PVA nanofibres. EDX analysis confirmed the successful incorporation of zeolites into the fibres. Among all membrane samples, the PZ-0.75 membrane exhibited the highest pure water flux (PWF) with approximately 1358.57 L·m⁻²·min⁻¹ for distilled water and 499.85 L·m⁻²·min⁻¹ for batik wastewater. Turbidity of batik wastewater increased proportionally with zeolite concentration, with removal rates of 84.79%, 78.8%, 76.96%, and 74.19% for PZ-0.75, PZ-0.5, PZ-0.25, and PVA membranes, respectively. Furthermore, the UV/Vis spectrophotometer demonstrated that dye removal efficiency increased from 2.22% to 8.89% as the zeolite concentration increased from 0% to 0.75%. In addition, the PZ-0.75 membrane effectively removed RR dye at a concentration of 1 mg/L, with an optimal contact time of approximately 60 min. The adsorption mechanism of the PZ-0.75 membrane aligns with the Freundlich model, with an R² value of 0.983. Overall, this study demonstrates the efficiency of zeolite in the fabric substrates to improve the filtration and adsorption properties for wastewater treatment, particularly in textile industries.

Nanofibres produced by electrospinning have high porosity, low basis weight, high surface area, and controllable pore size, which can be applied in various applications such as solar cells, supercapacitors, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, wound dressing, chemical and gas sensing and photocatalysis. However, nanofibres have poor filtration properties, particularly in textile wastewater due to the poor colour adsorption by the fibres. Hence, the study aimed to improve the filtration properties of the nanofibres by developing a bi-layer membrane of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibres-polyester woven with different concentrations of nanoclay. In this study, the nanoclay was added to polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution, which was electrospun using electrospinning to make PVA/nanoclay with polyester bi-layer. The analysis shows that the addition of nanoclay resulted in good adsorption of direct red dyes since direct dyes are often used in textile industry, indicating an improvement in the filtration properties. The tensile strength and Young’s modulus of samples decreased with an increase in the nanoclay concentration due to the fibre becoming stiffer in the bi-layer sample.

Nanofibres have gained increasing attention due to their advantages of having a high porous structure, narrow pore size and distribution, and a high specific surface area. One of the most efficient techniques for producing nanofibres is via electrospinning. Nanofibres are currently being used in various fields, including water filtration. Although nanofibres possess the ability to filter various components, the fibres generally have a low mechanical strength that can mitigate the performance over time. Therefore, in overcoming this issue, several studies have focused on improving the strength of the nanofibre membranes for a water filtration application. This review discusses the advantages and challenges of nanofibres for water filtration membranes and summarises the methods to increase the strength of the membranes, including solvent vapour, thermal treatment, and chemical crosslinking.