Reusable Self-Sterilization Masks Based on Electrothermal Graphene Filters

Abstract

Surgical mask is recommended by the World Health Organization for personal protection against disease transmission. However, most of the surgical masks on the market are disposable that cannot be self-sterilized for reuse. Thus, when confronting the global public health crisis, a severe shortage of mask resource is inevitable. In this paper, a novel low-cost electrothermal mask with excellent self-sterilization performance and portability is reported to overcome this shortage. First, a flexible, ventilated, and conductive cloth tape is patterned and adhered to the surface of a filter layer made of melt-blown nonwoven fabrics (MNF), which functions as interdigital electrodes. Then, a graphene layer with premier electric and thermal conductivity is coated onto the MNF. Operating under a low voltage of 3 V, the graphene-modified MNF (mod-MNF) can quickly generate large amounts of heat to achieve a high temperature above 80 °C, which can kill the majority of known viruses attached to the filter layer and the mask surface. Finally, the optimized graphene-modified masks based on the mod-MNF filter retain a relatively high particulate matter (PM) removal efficiency and a low-pressure drop. Moreover, the electrothermal masks can maintain almost the same PM removal efficiency over 10 times of electrifying, suggesting its outstanding reusability.

Functionalized Masks: Powerful Materials against COVID‐19 and Future Pandemics

“…In another report, graphene was used as a local heat generator for disinfection to provide reusable self‐sterilization masks. [ 86 ] The simple process of fabricating electrothermal graphene filters and embedding them into the mask structure is depicted in Figure 10 a – c . In the first step, a patterned flexible conductive cloth tape, as interdigital electrodes, was attached to the surface of a filter layer composed of melt‐blown nonwoven fabrics (MNF).…”

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

“…Various techniques have been attempted to improve the self-sterilization and antimicrobial properties of the nonwoven fabrics of face masks ( Seidi et al, 2021 ), such as coating with salt ( Quan et al, 2017 , Rubino et al, 2020 ), metal nanoparticles ( Kumar et al, 2020a , Kumar et al, 2020b , Kumar et al, 2020a , Kumar et al, 2020b , Zhong et al, 2020a , Zhong et al, 2020b , Zhong et al, 2020c ), and the incorporation of graphene ( Chua et al, 2020 , Huang et al, 2020 , Shan et al, 2020 , Zhong et al, 2020a , Zhong et al, 2020b , Zhong et al, 2020c ) and photosensitizers in the mask layers ( Horvath et al, 2020 , Monge et al, 2020 , Tang et al, 2020 ). Despite noteworthy progress in last year in the construction of functional nonwoven fabrics of face masks, enormous challenges still remain for practical applications of these functional-modified face masks: (i) most of the modifications have been performed on non-biodegradable PP-based nonwoven fabric which has already created significant environmental concerns after disposal ( Chen et al, 2021 , Kwak and An, 2021a , Kwak and An, 2021b , Morgana et al, 2021 ); (ii) most of these functional nonwoven fabrics require an external stimulus (including light, voltage, and pressure) to trigger the functions which practically limits the applications.…”

“…Despite noteworthy progress in last year in the construction of functional nonwoven fabrics of face masks, enormous challenges still remain for practical applications of these functional-modified face masks: (i) most of the modifications have been performed on non-biodegradable PP-based nonwoven fabric which has already created significant environmental concerns after disposal ( Chen et al, 2021 , Kwak and An, 2021a , Kwak and An, 2021b , Morgana et al, 2021 ); (ii) most of these functional nonwoven fabrics require an external stimulus (including light, voltage, and pressure) to trigger the functions which practically limits the applications. For instance, those requiring light will not be useful in dark conditions ( Horvath et al, 2020 , Tang et al, 2020 ); whereas the functional agents requiring voltage to activate often rely on a battery carried by users ( Kim et al, 2021 , Shan et al, 2020 ); (iii) poor adhesion between the water-soluble modifying agents (such as inorganic salts, essential oils, and quaternary ammonium compounds) with the nonwoven fabrics is another issue. Thus, fixation of such modifiers to the nonwoven layers for the elimination of leaching-out of active components is essential to reduce the toxicity and maintain the long-term effectiveness of the nonwoven fabrics.…”

Engineering of 2D nanomaterials to trap and kill SARS-CoV-2: a new insight from multi-microsecond atomistic simulations

“…For example, El-Atab et al prepared hydrophobic and self-cleaning membranes to be used on the masks with a polyimide on Si-wafer. In several reports, researchers have also attempted to modify hydrophobicity [39], photothermal [41], and electrothermal [42] properties of the masks with graphene nanomaterials. In this line, due to the antiviral properties of graphene and its derivatives, several applications to combat COVID-19 have been proposed and investigated [43][44][45][46].…”