A man wearing an N95 face mask (Representational image. Photo credit: AFP)
A team of researchers have developed a membrane that can simultaneously reduce aerosol and viral spread of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on contact. The study was published in the Communications Materials.
This membrane can capture and deactivate the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein within 30 seconds of contact.
Thin, asymmetric membranes with subtilisin enzyme and methacrylic functionalisation show more than 98.90 per cent filtration efficiency for 100-nm aerosol particles. The membranes provided a protection factor of 540 ± 380 for coronavirus-sized particle, above the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's standard of 10 for N95 masks.
The use of respiratory face masks provides significant reduction of coronavirus spread, as viral spread has been proven to occur primarily via two modes of transmission: Droplet spread (direct) and inhalation of infectious airborne aerosols (indirect).
The efficacy of filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), like N95 masks, has been extensively investigated in recent years, due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and influenza.
However, due to the open structure of the fibrous layers, such masks are limited in the capture of smaller-sized particles (<300 nm), and in the ability to maintain electrically-charged properties (lost during decontamination processes) found that only 70 per cent of 45 tested N95 masks (4 different models) offered >90 per cent rejection of sodium chloride (NaCl) aerosolised particles of coronavirus-like size (40–200 nm), indicating significant danger for virus transmission.
Therefore, the innovative development of smart filtration materials with low airflow resistance that can filter, capture, and deactivate aerosolised virus particles can provide immense human health and industrial work-place benefits.
Water-filtration membranes have been utilised for virus filtration, but their applications to aerosol capture have not been well-studied and could enable promising new developments for respiratory face masks and enclosed space-environmental filters.
Thin-film polymeric water-filtration membranes, such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), could mitigate this danger via air-filtration and offer greater aerosolised particle capture than N95 masks, due to precise control of the membrane pore size and structure. The PVDF has been shown to be effective in capturing coronavirus-simulated aerosols.
These membranes can be applied to air-filtration uses and offer high protein-functionalised aerosol filtration efficiency, with greater longevity of usage, than commercial N95 masks. The PVDF membranes are also expected to exhibit high breathability with a specified porosity, pore size, and thickness.
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