Al-Jumaily Ahmed M, Grau-Bartual Sandra, Weerasinghe Nimesha T
AUT-Institute of Biomedical Technologies, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
Polymers (Basel). 2023 Oct 16;15(20):4101. doi: 10.3390/polym15204101.
Lung supportive devices (LSDs) have been extensively utilized in treating patients diagnosed with various respiratory disorders. However, these devices can cause moisture depletion in the upper airway by interfering with the natural lubrication and air conditioning process. To remedy this, current technologies implement heated humidification processes, which are bulky, costly, and nonfriendly. However, it has been demonstrated that in a breath cycle, the amount of water vapor in the exhaled air is of a similar quantity to the amount needed to humidify the inhaled air. This research proposes to trap the moisture from exhaled air and reuse it during inhalation by developing a state-of-the-art hydrophilic/hydrophobic polymer tuned to deliver this purpose. Using the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method, a substrate was successfully created by incorporating poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM) onto cotton. The fabricated material exhibited a water vapor release rate of 24.2 ± 1.054%/min at 32 °C, indicating its ability to humidify the inhaled air effectively. These findings highlight the potential of the developed material as a promising solution for applications requiring rapid moisture recovery.
肺部支持设备（LSDs）已被广泛用于治疗被诊断患有各种呼吸系统疾病的患者。然而，这些设备会干扰自然润滑和空气调节过程，导致上呼吸道水分流失。为了弥补这一问题，当前技术采用了加热加湿过程，这些过程体积庞大、成本高昂且不友好。然而，已经证明在一个呼吸周期中，呼出空气中的水蒸气量与加湿吸入空气所需的量相似。本研究建议通过开发一种经过调整以实现此目的的先进亲水性/疏水性聚合物，从呼出空气中捕获水分并在吸入时重新利用。使用原子转移自由基聚合（ATRP）方法，通过将聚（N-异丙基丙烯酰胺）（PNIPAM）结合到棉花上，成功制造出一种基材。所制备的材料在32°C时的水蒸气释放速率为24.2±1.054%/分钟，表明其能够有效加湿吸入空气。这些发现突出了所开发材料作为需要快速水分回收应用的有前景解决方案的潜力。
