RAPID: Disinfection and Reuse of Health-Care Worker Facial Masks to Prevent Infection coronavirus disease

RAPID：对医护人员口罩进行消毒和重复使用，以预防感染冠状病毒

• 批准号: 2028074
• 负责人: Paul Westerhoff
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-05-01 至 2021-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2028074&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Disinfection; Reuse; Health; Care

Health care providers rely upon facial masks as a key element in protection against aerosol transmitted diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). There is currently a severe shortage of respiratory masks leading to unprecedented changes in healthcare protocols, to not only not change masks between patients but reuse masks over several hours or days, against common medical practice and creating serious risks of cross-contamination of patients and infection of personnel. Fast and effective sanitizing methods are needed to allow for the safe reuse of masks to protect patients and health care workers alike. The novel protocols need to assure rapid destruction of the virus while not compromising the protection efficacy. This project aims at designing a novel germicidal ultraviolet light irradiation system using light emitting diodes coated with nanoparticles to maximize the irradiation efficiency. Nanoparticles enhanced irradiation sources will be optimized to assure a more equal distribution of the germicidal light dose across curved surfaces (such as molded masks), increasing the process speed, while decreasing the potential damage by excess radiation. Potential radiation damage to mask material will be investigated while mask performance will be carefully monitored. The project will yield a novel nanotechnology enhanced ultraviolet disinfection system, while also providing critically needed scientific data on ultraviolet damage potential of masks in general and impacts of irradiation on protection efficacy. The project will make immediate broader impacts as it partners with health care practitioners. The funding will support the training of minority, undergraduate and graduate students in applied nanotechnology.The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has led to a severe shortage in respiratory protective equipment for health care providers. The quest for processes to rapidly sanitize facial masks for safe reuse revealed some scientific knowledge gaps and technological challenges, even for common processes such as Ultraviolet Light irradiation. Technologically, delivering uniform light dosages to curved surfaces such as masks, to minimize total radiation dose and potential material damage while saving time and energy remains a challenge. This project will use nano-enabled, durable ultraviolet -light emitting diodes connected to optical fibers to optimize delivery of ultraviolet doses to non-flat surfaces. Scientifically, little information exists on ultraviolet damage to facial masks and the impact on the capture efficiency of the masks. This project will characterize chemically the nature of the ultraviolet radiation to the mask materials while also investigating potential changes to particle collection efficiency of the material. The capture efficiency and hence protection efficacy is a nanoparticle issue (virions are ~125 nm), beyond simple physical size as particles will also be trapped by electrostatic interactions, particularly important at nanoscale. The latter is really poorly understood in the context of facial masks and impact of humidity, particle size and potential radiation induced material surface changes. This project will contribute to ultraviolet radiation technology development, nanoscale insights on nanoparticle trapping and particle filter interactions. The project will support minority, undergraduate and student graduate training and have immediate impacts by direct collaboration with health care practitioners.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

卫生保健提供者依靠面罩是防止气溶胶传播疾病（例如冠状病毒疾病2019（Covid-19）的关键因素。目前存在严重短缺呼吸罩，导致医疗方案的前所未有的变化，不仅不会改变患者之间的口罩，而且要在几个小时或几天内重复使用口罩，反对常见的医疗实践，并产生严重的患者和感染的交叉污染风险人员。需要快速有效的消毒方法，以允许安全再利用面具以保护患者和医疗保健工作者。新的方案需要确保病毒的快速破坏，同时不损害保护功效。该项目旨在使用涂有纳米颗粒的发光二极管设计一种新型的杀菌紫外线照射系统，以最大程度地提高辐照效率。纳米颗粒将优化纳米颗粒，以确保在弯曲表面（例如模制面膜）上的杀菌光剂量的分布更加相等，从而提高了过程速度，同时降低了过量辐射的潜在损害。将对面罩材料的潜在辐射损坏进行研究，同时将仔细监测掩模性能。该项目将产生一种新型的纳米技术增强的紫外线消毒系统，同时还提供了迫切需要的科学数据，该数据一般而言，面膜的紫外线损伤潜力以及辐照对保护功效的影响。当IT与卫生保健从业人员合作时，该项目将立即产生更广泛的影响。这笔资金将支持培训应用纳米技术的少数群体，本科和研究生。2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）爆发导致医疗保健提供者的呼吸道保护设备严重短缺。寻求快速消毒面膜以安全再利用的过程发现了一些科学知识的差距和技术挑战，即使对于诸如紫外线光照射之类的常见过程也是如此。从技术上讲，向弯曲的表面（例如面膜）提供均匀的光剂量，以最大程度地减少总辐射剂量和潜在的物质损害，同时节省时间和能量仍然是一个挑战。该项目将使用与光纤连接的耐用紫外线 - 灯光发射二极管，以优化紫外线剂量到非燃料表面的递送。从科学上讲，几乎没有关于紫外线对面膜损害的信息以及对口罩捕获效率的影响。该项目将在化学上表征紫外线辐射的性质，同时还研究了材料颗粒收集效率的潜在变化。捕获效率及其保护功效是纳米颗粒问题（病毒粒子约为125 nm），超出简单的物理大小，因为颗粒也将被静电相互作用所困扰，在纳米级尤其重要。后者在面膜的背景下对后者的理解确实很少，湿度，粒径和潜在辐射引起的材料表面变化的影响。该项目将有助于紫外线辐射技术开发，纳米级洞察纳米颗粒捕获和颗粒滤波器相互作用。该项目将支持少数民族，本科和学生研究生培训，并通过与卫生保健从业人员直接合作产生立即影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估评估标准来通过评估来支持的。

项目成果

Germicidal Ultraviolet Light Does Not Damage or Impede Performance of N95 Masks Upon Multiple Uses

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00416
• 发表时间: 2020-08-11
• 期刊: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LETTERS
• 影响因子: 10.9
• 作者: Zhao, Zhe;Zhang, Zhaobo;Westerhoff, Paul
• 通讯作者: Westerhoff, Paul