An Electric Face Mask that kills Coronaviruses
One of the means that the COVID-19 virus spreads from an infected person through the aerosols that come out from the nose and the mouth of the infected person. An uninfected person can get infected if the virus in aerosols enters the body of that person through that person’s nose or mouth. That is why health officials advise that people should wear face masks in public to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
However, COVID-19 viruses that are blocked by the face mask from entering the body system of an uninfected person will accumulate on the face mask. The virus accumulates on the facemask as the mask is worn repeatedly. Thus, if care is not taken by the person wearing the face mask, the wearer of the face mask can accidentally transfer the virus from the face mask into their body system.
To prevent the transfers of the virus from the face mask into the body, researchers at Indiana University have proposed a new type of fabric for making face masks. This new face mask can kill COVID-19 viruses and make the virus ineffective when the COVID-19 viruses come in contact with the face mask. This face mask works by generating very weak electric voltages. The researchers showed that such weak electric voltages can confuse and kill the COVID-19 viruses, slowing the growth and destroying the infectivity of the virus on the face mask. These special types of fabrics are called electroceutical fabrics.
Electroceutical battery face masks generate electric voltage just like batteries generate electric voltages.
From middle school science classes, we were taught that if two different metals are placed in a conducting fluid, an electric voltage develops between the two metals.
This same principle was used by Indiana University researches in their electric face masks. The researchers deposited zinc dots and silver dots on a face mask fabric, and they showed that they could make the fabric generate electric voltages when the fabric was dipped in a salt solution or tap water.
They were able to generate voltages of up to 0.5 Volts (that is about one-third the amount of voltage AAA batteries produce) with their fabric. This voltage is enough to kill COVID-19 viruses.
The researchers hope to soon secure FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization for the use of this face mask. The use of electroceutical fabric to kill pathogens is not a new one. Commercially-available electroceutical fabrics are used in making wood dressing (fabric) that prevents bacterial growth on wounds. The Indian University researchers have extended the same principle used for killing bacterias on fabric to killing viruses on fabric.
For more information on COVID-19 and on electroceutical fabric for face masks, check these online resources: