Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1H9, Canada.
Center for Inflammation, Immunity & Infection, Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, United States.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Apr 14;13(14):16084-16096. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c01837. Epub 2021 Apr 1.
As COVID-19 exemplifies, respiratory diseases transmitted through aerosols or droplets are global threats to public health, and respiratory protection measures are essential first lines of infection prevention and control. However, common face masks are single use and can cause cross-infection due to the accumulated infectious pathogens. We developed salt-based formulations to coat membrane fibers to fabricate antimicrobial filters. Here, we report a mechanistic study on salt-induced pathogen inactivation. The salt recrystallization following aerosol exposure was characterized over time on sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium sulfate (KSO), and potassium chloride (KCl) powders and coatings, which revealed that NaCl and KCl start to recrystallize within 5 min and KSO within 15 min. The inactivation kinetics observed for the H1N1 influenza virus and matched the salt recrystallization well, which was identified as the main destabilizing mechanism. Additionally, the salt-coated filters were prepared with different methods (with and without a vacuum process), which led to salt coatings with different morphologies for diverse applications. Finally, the salt-coated filters caused a loss of pathogen viability independent of transmission mode (aerosols or droplets), against both DI water and artificial saliva suspensions. Overall, these findings increase our understanding of the salt-recrystallization-based technology to develop highly versatile antimicrobial filters.
正如 COVID-19 所表明的那样，通过气溶胶或飞沫传播的呼吸道疾病是对全球公共卫生的威胁，呼吸道保护措施是预防和控制感染的重要第一道防线。然而，常见的口罩是一次性使用的，由于积累的传染性病原体，可能会导致交叉感染。我们开发了基于盐的配方来涂覆膜纤维以制造抗菌过滤器。在这里，我们报告了一项关于盐诱导病原体失活的机制研究。随着时间的推移，对氯化钠 (NaCl)、硫酸钾 (KSO) 和氯化钾 (KCl) 粉末和涂层上气溶胶暴露后的盐再结晶进行了表征，结果表明 NaCl 和 KCl 在 5 分钟内开始再结晶，而 KSO 在 15 分钟内开始再结晶。观察到的 H1N1 流感病毒和的失活动力学与盐再结晶非常吻合，这被确定为主要的失稳机制。此外，用不同的方法（有和没有真空过程）制备了涂盐的过滤器，这导致了不同形态的盐涂层，适用于不同的应用。最后，涂盐的过滤器在不依赖于传播模式（气溶胶或飞沫）的情况下，对 DI 水和人工唾液悬浮液均能导致病原体活力丧失。总的来说，这些发现增加了我们对基于盐再结晶技术开发高度通用抗菌过滤器的理解。
