Wafer soluble nanoffiters (NF) to be used in the collection of biological micro- and nano-aerosols were manufactured by electrospinning polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) solutions in different solvent mixtures and neutralizing the elearospun PVP nanolibers with a cloud of small counter ions generated by electro-spraying a volatile solvent. Nanofibers electrospun horn 6.5% PVP solutions in 0.8/02 (w/w) ethanol/acetone, 0.8/0.2 ethanol/water, and 0.5/0.5 ethanol/dimethy/formamide (DMFA) mixtures had major diameters of 255, 155, and 5 nm, respectively. NF electrospun from PVP solution in the ethanol/DMFA mixture were almost transparent, and had the mass and the resistance to airflow less by a factor of 2-3 compared to the NF of similar aerosol-capturing efficiency but manufactured horn the PVP solution in the ethanol/water mixture. The filtration properties of these two types of NF for sub-micron and nanoaerosol particles were characterized at a face velocity of air up to 13 m/s It was shown that deformation of nanomats by a pressure drop at high velocity resulted in decreased nanoaerosol penetration, It was demonstrated that NF attached to a household vacuum cleaner allowed aerosol to be collected at a flow rate of 04-0.7 m(3)/min and transferred into a liquid probe as small as 20 mu L for further analysis. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.