Polymersomes as virus-surrogate particles for evaluating the performance of air filter materials

•Develops a cost-effective filtration efficiency testing strategy for antivirus fibrous materials.•Employs polymersomes which possess similar size and structures to virus as a new type of virus-surrogate particles for filtration efficiency testing.•Successfully evaluates the difference in filtration efficiencies of commercial masks, hydrophobic nanofibers, and hydrophilic nanofibers.