Chen Dan, Tang Lianwei, Wang Yunming, Tan Yongyao, Fu Yue, Cai Weihao, Yu Zhaohan, Sun Shuang, Zheng Jiaqi, Cui Jingqiang, Wang Guosheng, Liu Yang, Zhou Huamin
State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
Department of Ophthalmology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Apr 20;14(15):17774-17782. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c01077. Epub 2022 Apr 1.
Face masks, which serve as personal protection equipment, have become ubiquitous for combating the ongoing COVID-19. However, conventional electrostatic-based mask filters are disposable and short-term effective with high breathing resistance, causing respiratory ailments and massive consumption (129 billion monthly), intensifying global environmental pollution. In an effort to address these challenges, the introduction of a piezoelectric polymer was adopted to realize the charge-laden melt-blown via the melt-blowing method. The charge-laden melt-blown could be applied to manufacture face masks and to generate charges triggered by mechanical and acoustic energy originated from daily speaking. Through an efficient and scalable industrial melt-blown process, our charge-laden mask is capable of overcoming the inevitable electrostatic attenuation, even in a high-humidity atmosphere by long-wearing (prolonging from 4 to 72 h) and three-cycle common decontamination methods. Combined with outstanding protective properties (PM filtration efficiency >99.9%), breathability (differential pressure <17 Pa/cm), and mechanical strength, the resultant charge-laden mask could enable the decreased replacement of masks, thereby lowering to 94.4% of output masks worldwide (∼122 billion monthly) without substituting the existing structure or assembling process.
口罩作为个人防护装备，在抗击当前的新冠疫情中已随处可见。然而，传统的基于静电的口罩过滤器是一次性的，短期有效，但呼吸阻力大，会导致呼吸系统疾病并造成大量消耗（每月1290亿个），加剧全球环境污染。为应对这些挑战，采用了一种压电聚合物，通过熔喷法实现带电熔喷。带电熔喷可用于制造口罩，并产生由日常说话产生的机械能和声能触发的电荷。通过高效且可扩展的工业熔喷工艺，我们的带电口罩能够克服不可避免的静电衰减，即使在高湿度环境中，通过长时间佩戴（从4小时延长至72小时）和三轮常规消毒方法也能做到。结合出色的防护性能（PM过滤效率>99.9%）、透气性（压差<17 Pa/cm）和机械强度，所得的带电口罩可减少口罩的更换，从而将全球口罩产量降低至94.4%（约每月1220亿个），而无需替代现有结构或组装工艺。
