Antiviral/antibacterial biodegradable cellulose nonwovens as environmentally friendly and bioprotective materials with potential to minimize microplastic pollution

Abstract

Personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks is vital in battling the COVID-19 crisis, but the dominant polypropylene-based PPE are lack of antiviral/antibacterial activities and environmental friendliness, and have hazardous impact on the soil and aquatic ecosystems. The work presented herein focused on developing biodegradable, antiviral, and antibacterial cellulose nonwovens (AVAB-CNWs) as a multi-functional bioprotective layer for better protection against coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and addressing environmental concerns raised by the piling of COVID-19 related wastes. Both guanidine-based polymer and neomycin sulfate (NEO) were reactive-modified and covalently grafted onto the surface of cellulose nonwovens, thereby conferring outstanding antiviral and antibacterial activities to the nonwovens without deteriorating the microstructure and biodegradability. Through adjusting the grafting amount of active components and selecting appropriate reagents for pretreatment, the antimicrobial activity and hydrophobicity for self-cleaning of the nonwovens can be tuned. More importantly, we demonstrated for the first time that such multi-functional nonwovens are capable of inactivating SARS-CoV-2 instantly, leading to high virucidal activity (>99.35%), which is unachievable by conventional masks used nowadays. Meanwhile, the robust breathability and biodegradability of AVAB-CNWs were well maintained. The applications of the as-prepared nonwovens as high-performance textile can be readily extended to other areas in the fight against COVID-19.

Biodegradable Nonwoven Materials with Antipathogenic Layer

“…The progressive awareness within society of issues in the field of ecology forced scientists to develop new base compositions that would be more environmentally friendly. Deng et al [96] described biodegradable, antiviral, and antibacterial cellulose nonwovens as a good solution in light of the increasing pollution of the environment. The authors confirmed that usage of low doses of antiviral/antibacterial components will not influence biodegradability of cellulose materials.…”

Degradation of plastics associated with the COVID-19 pandemic

“…On the other hand, some authors have implemented different technological strategies to mitigate the plastic pollution generated by PPE waste (in particular, face masks), such as employing a Ni(OH) 2 /NiCl 2 hybrid catalyst to catalytic carbonization of face mask waste ( R. Yu et al, 2021 ) or through a method co-hydrothermal liquefaction (Co-HTL) with Spirulina platensis grown in wastewater ( L. Li et al, 2021 ). Other authors have developed antiviral/antibacterial biodegradable cellulose textiles for manufacturing face masks with the aim of making woven environmentally friendly and bioprotective materials with the potential to minimize MPs pollution ( Deng et al, 2022 ). Alshabanah et al (2021) have synthesized thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanofibers impregnated with ZnO and CuO nanoparticles or personal protection applications to supply or improve the antiviral properties of the textiles polymer.…”

CaZnO-based nanoghosts for the detection of ssDNA, pCRISPR and recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen and targeted delivery of doxorubicin

“…The convergence between chemistry, nanoscience, and biotechnology leads to the developing of new methods/technologies for advanced generations ( Akça et al, 2021 ; Karaman, 2021 , 2022 ; Deng et al, 2022 ). These technologies are based on the innovative findings of the scientists based on their fundamental knowledge; however, sometimes, these innovative findings lead to unwanted effects with negative impacts ( Liu et al, 2022 ; Nosrati et al, 2022 ; Shokri et al, 2022 ).…”