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Development of photothermal reusable masks

 

Gefördert durch das Chinesisch-Deutsche Zentrum für Wissenschaftsförderung in Peking führt das Institut für Anorganische Chemie und Strukturchemie I gemeinsam mit der Wuhan University of Technology im Rahmen des Sonderprogramms zu Covid-19 ein Forschungsprojekt zur Entwicklung von photothermisch wiederverwendbaren Masken durch.

The emergence of a pandemic affecting the respiratory system, especially the current global spread of COVID-19, can result in a significant demand for medical masks. However, the current medical masks cannot self-sterilize, and are thus incapable of long-term reusage. The resulting high medical and public risks and the high economic and environmental costs are further damaging societies worldwide. For a very simple and mature processing technology of medical masks, it is of technological importance to develop a simple approach to reusable mask. The project aims for a hierarchical ternary core-layered composition (3D-MIL-160/meltblown polymer/3D-graphene) fabricated via a facile spraying-pressing method. Herein, the hierarchical 3D MIL-160 layer, as strong water-adsorbent material, reduces the activity of the virus by dehydration. The meltblown polymer layer acts as normal face mask to isolate the virus. The hierarchical 3D graphene layer, not only isolates the virus, but also kills the virus and removes the adsorbed water by its excellent photothermal performance. The targets of our proposal are the following: Firstly, rapid and scale-up synthesis for hierarchically porous MIL-160 and graphene. Next, the exploration of hierarchical spaying-pressing assembly methods, interface stability, rapid water-adsorption and photothermal performance enhancement will be addressed. Finally, an exploration of the structure-function relation is essential, for photothermal sterilization and reusability of the face mask. The integration of hierarchical MIL-160 by the German side and hierarchical graphene by the Chinese side would be a solid basis for success in hierarchical ternary layer composition. Following the research route of synthesis-mechanism-application, two aspects of the project will be carried out as follows: 1) Hierarchical MIL-160/meltblown polymer and water-adsorption performance promotion (German side); 2) Hierarchical graphene/meltblown polymer and photothermal performance promotion (Chinese side); 3) Hierarchical MIL-160/meltblown /graphene and performance promotion of its photothermal sterilization and reusability in the masks (Chinese-German cooperation).

 

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