Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Science, Central University of South Bihar, Bihar, India.
Department of Home Science, Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2024 Jun;31(29):41656-41682. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-30460-5. Epub 2023 Nov 15.
Masks are face coverings that give protection from infectious agents, airborne pathogens, bacteria, viruses, surgical fog, dust, and other chemical hazards by acting as a barrier between the wearer and the environment. In the COVID-19 pandemic, this major personal protective equipment's became essential part of our daily life. The aim of this review is to analyze and discuss the different types of masks with their pros and cons, manufacturing procedures, evaluation criteria, and application with some of the sterilization process for reuse and smart mask. The review used a thorough examination of the literature to analyze the preventive effects of surgical, N95, smart mask, and potential environmental damage from those masks. Several studies and evidence were also examined to understand the efficiency of different mask on different environment. N95 respirators are capable of filtering out non-oil-based 95% air-born particles, and surgical masks act as a protective barrier between the wearer and the environment. The application of spoon bond and melt blown techniques in the fabrication process of those masks improves their protective nature and makes them lightweight and comfortable. But the high demand and low supply forced users to reuse and extend their use after sterilizations, even though those masks are recommended to be used once. Universal masking in the SARS-COV-2 pandemic increased the chance of environmental pollution, so the application of smart masks became essential because of their high protection power and self-sterilizing and reusing capabilities.
口罩是一种防护用具，通过在佩戴者和环境之间形成一道屏障，从而起到防止感染性因子、空气传播病原体、细菌、病毒、手术烟雾、灰尘和其他化学危害物的作用。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，这种主要的个人防护设备成为了我们日常生活的重要组成部分。本文旨在分析和讨论不同类型的口罩的优缺点、制造程序、评估标准以及其在一些消毒后可重复使用的智能口罩的应用，还讨论了口罩的重复使用可能对环境造成的潜在危害。本综述通过对文献的全面审查，分析了外科口罩、N95 口罩、智能口罩的预防效果，以及这些口罩可能对环境造成的潜在损害。还研究了一些研究和证据，以了解不同环境下不同口罩的效率。N95 呼吸器能够过滤掉非油性的 95%空气传播颗粒，而外科口罩则在佩戴者和环境之间形成一道防护屏障。在这些口罩的制造过程中应用匙形键合和熔喷技术，提高了它们的防护性能，使其更加轻巧舒适。但是，由于需求量大而供应量低，用户被迫对口罩进行重复使用和消毒后延长使用时间，尽管这些口罩建议只使用一次。在 SARS-COV-2 大流行期间普遍使用口罩增加了环境污染的机会，因此，由于智能口罩具有高保护力和自我消毒及重复使用的能力，其应用变得至关重要。
