India Shifts To Greener Ways In Fight Against Covid-19, Develops Self-Disinfecting, Biodegradable Mask

The 'copper-based nanoparticle-coated anti-viral face mask' exhibited an efficacy of 99.9 per cent against bacteria, as well as against SARS-CoV-2, the Ministry of Science & Technology said in a release.

The mode of transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is via respiratory particles that are mainly airborne. Wearing masks are shown to be very effective in reducing the spread of the virus and transmission of the disease it causes. However, the masks available in the Indian market neither exhibit antiviral nor antibacterial properties and are expensive. In the present scenario, where mutations in coronavirus are fast emerging, the Indian government felt an urgent need to develop a low-cost antiviral mask. The good news is Now we have a low-cost self-disinfecting, anti-viral face mask.

A team of Indian scientists has developed a self-disinfecting, biodegradable, highly breathable and washable mask to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The 'Copper-based Nanoparticle-coated Anti-viral Face Mask' exhibits high performance against coronavirus as well as several other viral and bacterial infections, the Ministry of Science & Technology said in a release on Friday.

Scientists at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous R&D Centre of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, have developed the face mask in collaboration with the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB) and Resil Chemicals, a Bengaluru based company, under the DST sponsored Nano-Mission project.

This is how the new self-disinfecting, anti-viral face mask was created

As per the release, the ARCI scientists developed copper-based nanoparticles of around 20 nanometres via the Flame Spray Pyrolysis (FSP) process, which involves conversion of solution precursors into nano-powders by high temperature pyrolytic decomposition. Then, stable nanoparticle suspension was obtained by optimizing the solid loading and pH. Using a suitable binder, a uniform layer of this nano-coating was created on the cotton fabric.

The nanoparticle-coated fabric exhibited an efficacy of 99.9 per cent against bacteria, as well as against SARS-CoV-2, the release said.

CSIR-CCMB tested the efficacy of prototype masks having different designs with nanoparticle coated fabric as outer layer.

"The present-day face masks only retain the viruses by filtering and do not kill them and hence, are prone to transmission if the masks are not properly worn or disposed. Simple multi-layer cloth masks present a pragmatic solution for use by the public in reducing Covid-19 transmission in the community and wearing these self-disinfecting cloth masks is definitely one of them," the release said.

Fig: (a) TEM image of the Cu based nano powders, (b) FE-SEM image of nanoparticle coated fabric, (c) Mask fabric exhibiting an efficacy >99.9% against SARS-CoV-2, and (d) Demonstration of the single layer self-disinfecting masks at ARCI

Resil Chemicals is now producing nanoparticle-coated double layer anti-viral masks on large scale, the release added.

Because this antiviral mask is made from cotton fabric that is biodegradable, it would also eliminate the problem of waste-management issues resulting from the disposal of used masks. What's more, the mask is highly breathable and washable.