Patil Nikhil Avinash, Gore Prakash Macchindra, Jaya Prakash Niranjana, Govindaraj Premika, Yadav Ramdayal, Verma Vivek, Shanmugarajan Dhivya, Patil Shivanand, Kore Abhay, Kandasubramanian Balasubramanian
Nanofibre & Nano Surface Texturing Laboratory, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Ministry of Defence, Girinagar, Pune 411025, Maharashtra, India.
Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds Campus, Geelong 3216, Victoria, Australia.
Chem Eng J. 2021 Jul 15;416:129152. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2021.129152. Epub 2021 Feb 26.
The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected human health and world economies. According to WHO guidelines, continuous use of face mask is mandatory for personal protection for restricting the spread of bacteria and virus. Here, we report a 3-ply cotton-PLA-cotton layered biodegradable face-mask containing encapsulated phytochemicals in the inner-filtration layer. The nano-fibrous PLA filtration layer was fabricated using needleless electrospinning of PLA & phytochemical-based herbal-extracts. This 3-layred face mask exhibits enhanced air permeability with a differential pressure of 35.78 Pa/cm and superior bacterial filtration efficiency of 97.9% compared to conventional face masks. Close-packed mesh structure of the nano-fibrous mat results in effective adsorption of particulate matter, aerosol particles, and bacterial targets deep inside the filtration layer. The outer hydrophobic layer of mask exhibited effective blood splash resistance up to a distance of 30 cm, ensuring its utilization for medical practices. Computational analysis of constituent phytochemicals using the LibDock algorithm predicted inhibitory activity of chemicals against the protein structured bacterial sites. The computational analysis projected superior performance of phytochemicals considering the presence of stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and Arachidic acid exhibiting structural complementarity to inhibit targeted bacterial interface. Natural cotton fibers and PLA bio-polymer demonstrated promising biodegradable characteristics in the presence of in-house cow-dung based biodegradation slurry. Addition of jaggery to the slurry elevated the biodegradation performance, resulting in increment of change of weight from 07% to 12%. The improved performance was attributed to the increased sucrose content in biodegradation slurry, elevating the bacterial growth in the slurry. An innovative face mask has shown promising results for utilization in day-to-day life and medical frontline workers, considering the post-pandemic environmental impacts.
新冠疫情的出现严重影响了人类健康和世界经济。根据世界卫生组织的指导方针，持续佩戴口罩对于个人防护以限制细菌和病毒传播是必不可少的。在此，我们报告一种三层棉质-聚乳酸-棉质分层可生物降解口罩，其内部过滤层含有封装的植物化学物质。纳米纤维聚乳酸过滤层是通过对聚乳酸和基于植物化学物质的草药提取物进行无针静电纺丝制成的。与传统口罩相比，这种三层口罩具有增强的透气性，压差为35.78 Pa/cm，细菌过滤效率高达97.9%。纳米纤维垫的密排网状结构可有效吸附过滤层深处的颗粒物、气溶胶颗粒和细菌靶点。口罩的外部疏水层在30厘米的距离内表现出有效的防血液飞溅能力，确保其可用于医疗实践。使用LibDock算法对成分植物化学物质进行的计算分析预测了这些化学物质对蛋白质结构细菌位点的抑制活性。考虑到硬脂酸、油酸、亚油酸和花生酸的存在表现出结构互补性以抑制靶向细菌界面，计算分析预测了植物化学物质的卓越性能。天然棉纤维和聚乳酸生物聚合物在内部基于牛粪的生物降解浆料存在下表现出有前景的可生物降解特性。向浆料中添加粗糖提高了生物降解性能，导致重量变化从7%增加到12%。性能的提高归因于生物降解浆料中蔗糖含量的增加，促进了浆料中细菌的生长。考虑到大流行后的环境影响，一种创新型口罩在日常生活和医疗一线工作者中的应用已显示出有前景的结果。
