Covid face mask: Scientists have developed a self-disinfecting antiviral face mask to fight against the Covid, the Ministry of Science & Technology informed on Friday. The mask exhibits high performance against the virus as well as several other viral and bacterial infections, is biodegradable, highly breathable and washable, the ministry said in a statement.
Public mask wearing is most effective in reducing the spread of the virus caused by SARS-CoV-2, an enveloped positive sense single-stranded RNA virus, where the mode of transmission is via respiratory particles that are mainly airborne.
The ministry said that with the science around the use of masks to impede transmission is advancing rapidly, the Indian market is selling expensive masks that neither exhibit antiviral nor antibacterial properties. “Hence, it is very difficult to control the transmission by wearing the conventional mask particularly in densely populated places like hospitals, airports, stations, shopping malls and so on where the virus load is very high”.
In the present scenario, where mutations in coronavirus causing the pandemic are fast emerging, it is an urgent necessity to develop a low-cost antiviral mask.
“To this end, scientists at International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous R&D Centre of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, in collaboration with the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB) and Resil Chemicals, a Bengaluru based company have developed the self-disinfecting ‘Copper-based Nano-particle-coated Antiviral Face Masks’ under the DST sponsored Nano-Mission project, to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” the ministry said.
The ARCI developed copper-based nano-particles of around 20 nanometres by a Flame Spray Pyrolysis (FSP) processing facility. FSP process involves conversion of solution precursors into nano-powders by high temperature pyrolytic decomposition. Stable nano-particle suspension were obtained by optimizing the solid loading and pH. A uniform layer of this nano-coating on the cotton fabric with good adhesion was achieved using a suitable binder.
The coated fabric exhibited an efficacy of more than 99.9% against bacteria. CSIR-CCMB tested the efficacy of this fabric against SARS-CoV-2 for their disinfection properties and reported 99.9% disinfection, as evident from the standard results. Prototype masks having different designs such as single layer and triple layers with nano-particle coated fabric as outer layer have been demonstrated. A single layer mask is especially useful as a protective antiviral outer mask over a regular mas, the statement said.
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