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The benefits of wearing face masks to help slow the spread of COVID-19 are now well understood, but scientists are still looking for better materials to use – and a filter “ paper ” made from nanowires of titanium oxide is very promising.
The new material is so effective at trapping pathogens and destroying them when ultraviolet light is applied, it could also be used in air conditioning units and ventilation systems, according to the developers.
While the nanowire mask looks like it’s made from regular filter paper, it brings additional antibacterial and antiviral properties to the material, making it much more effective at killing germs – and making it reusable, too.
“Since our filter is exceptionally efficient at absorbing moisture, it can trap droplets carrying viruses and bacteria,” says physicist László Forró, of the Complex Materials Physics Laboratory at EPFL in Switzerland.
“This creates a favorable environment for the oxidation process, which is triggered by light.”
The photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide are essential – when ultraviolet light hits the mask, its fibers convert the moisture contained in the nanowires into oxidizing agents (including hydrogen peroxide), which then have the potential to destroy the agents. pathogens on contact.
In experiments on the material, the team showed how the filter could destroy Escherichia coli bacteria and break down DNA strands, essentially removing dangerous microorganisms in the mask itself.
While standard disposable paper masks – typically made from layers of polypropylene non-woven plastic microfibers – are also effective in stopping the spread of respiratory disease, they tend to only trap pathogens and cannot be easily disinfected.
“In a hospital, these masks are placed in special bins and handled appropriately,” says Forró. “However, their use around the world – where they are thrown in open trash cans and even left on the streets – can turn them into new sources of contamination.”
The new material is yet to be tested with SARS-CoV-2 specifically, but the researchers are confident that these nanowire masks may be helpful in the fight against the global pandemic, given the results they have seen. E. coli and DNA strands.
Two of the study’s authors have created a start-up called Swoxid, which will be the company that is set to launch this invention into the world and develop the material as a business proposition. There are a lot of hurdles before a new invention can hit the market, but the team seems pretty excited about their prospects.
“From today, the technology we are offering, exclusively under laboratory conditions, will allow a filter production capacity of approximately 100-200 m2 per week. This is enough to make 40,000 to 80,000 reusable masks per month, ”the researchers write in their study.
Such a best-case scenario can only happen after further development and research, but the team’s prototype certainly looks interesting.
As our understanding of the science of masks grows, experts are improving to determine which masks most effectively stop viral droplets – and with COVID-19 still very much present, a mask capable of actively destroying the virus would be extremely helpful, if we can. You understand.
The research was published in Advanced functional materials.
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