Wang Peter L, Roschli Alex, Paranthaman M Parans, Theodore Merlin, Cramer Corson L, Zangmeister Chris, Zhang Yuepeng, Urban Jeffrey J, Love Lonnie
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN USA.
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, USA.
MRS Bull. 2021;46(9):822-831. doi: 10.1557/s43577-021-00173-6. Epub 2021 Sep 15.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a surge in demand for N95 or equivalent respirators that the global supply chain was unable to satisfy. This shortage in critical equipment has inspired research that addresses the immediate problems and has accelerated the development of the next-generation filtration media and respirators. This article provides a brief review of the most recent work with regard to face respirators and filtration media. We discuss filtration efficiency of the widely utilized cloth masks. Next, the sterilization of and reuse of existing N95 respirators to extend the existing stockpile is discussed. To expand near-term supplies, optimization of current manufacturing methods, such as melt-blown processes and electrospinning, has been explored. Future manufacturing methods have been investigated to address long-term supply shortages. Novel materials with antiviral and sterilizable properties with the ability for multiple reuses have been developed and will contribute to the development of the next generation of longer lasting multi-use N95 respirators. Finally, additively manufactured respirators are reviewed, which enable a rapidly deployable source of reusable respirators that can use any filtration fabric.
新冠疫情引发了对N95或同等防护等级口罩需求的激增，而全球供应链无法满足这一需求。关键设备的短缺促使人们开展研究以解决当下问题，并加速了下一代过滤介质和口罩的研发。本文简要回顾了有关面部口罩和过滤介质的最新研究工作。我们讨论了广泛使用的布口罩的过滤效率。接下来，探讨了对现有N95口罩进行消毒和重复使用以扩充现有库存的方法。为扩大近期供应，人们探索了对当前制造方法（如熔喷工艺和静电纺丝）进行优化。为解决长期供应短缺问题，已对未来制造方法展开研究。已开发出具有抗病毒和可消毒特性且能多次重复使用的新型材料，这将有助于下一代更耐用的一次性N95口罩的研发。最后，对增材制造口罩进行了综述，这种口罩可提供一种能快速部署的可重复使用口罩来源，且可使用任何过滤织物。
