Moisture-resistant, sterilizable and reusable N-95 like piezoelectric facemask filtering membrane with long-term biodegradability

防潮、可灭菌、可重复使用的N-95类压电口罩过滤膜，具有长期生物降解性

• 批准号: 10547176
• 负责人: Linh Le
• 金额: $ 27.64万
• 依托单位: PIEZOBIOMEMBRANE, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10547176
• 关键词: Moisture; resistant; sterilizable; reusable; 95

Abstract Facemasks have been shown to be the most effective tool to prevent the spreading and transmission of infectious viruses in pandemics. Many countries, including the US, have enforced the use of facemasks in public area or healthcare settings to protect healthcare workers and general population against highly contagious viral strains of the SARS-COVID-2. This global enforcement of facemasks has led to billions of N95/surgical masks (which are intended for single-use and are non-degradable) being disposed of in landfills and ocean, causing a significant crisis on the environment. Aside from viral infection, particulate matters (PMs, i.e. small particles with sizes at nano or micro-meters) from the combustion of fossil fuels around the world also has severe impact on human health. Especially, small particles such as PM1.0 or PM2.5 (i.e. sizes < 1 µm and 2.5 µm, respectively) are the most poisonous and harmful ones since they can travel into deeper parts of the respiratory tract and even penetrate into the bloodstream. In this regard, facemasks have also been the most effective solution to protect public health from industrial PMs and air pollution. Given such a tremendous demand of filtration facemask membranes, the heavy and continuous use of traditional non-degradable, one-time disposable facemasks (e.g. N95 and surgical masks) will not only be an economic burden but also cause an environmental crisis with billions of permanent plastic wastes disposed every year. Besides the environmental problem, current facemasks struggle with a significant drawback of losing filtration function after a long period of continuous use and exposure of humid air, thus making the mask users non-protective against the risk of viral infection. Herein, we propose a novel piezoelectric composite nanofiber mesh of Poly-L-Lactide (PLLA) and Magnesium Oxide (MgO) which provides all properties of an ideal filtering membrane, including (1) moisture- resistance, (2) good mechanical strength, (3) N95-like filtering efficiency, (4) small pressure-drop, (5) reusability/sterilize-ability, and (6) long-term biodegradation to avoid any harm on the environment. Our major hypothesis is that by creating a highly piezoelectric MgO/PLLA and then employ multi-layer of the MgO/PLLA nanofiber mesh with tunable pore size/pore number in each layer, we will be able to produce a desired filter with a high filtration efficiency and low pressure drop, similar to a N95 facemask filter. To achieve the facemask and demonstrate the hypothesis in this phase I SBIR, we design the project with two aims. Aims 1 (6 months) is to characterize the MgO/PLLA nanofiber membrane filter in terms of piezoelectric effect, mechanical property, and porosity of the nanofiber membrane. Aim 2 (12 months) is to fabricate the multi-layer filtering membrane with the MgO/PLLA nanofiber mesh patterned with micro-pores and achieve the N-95 performance in terms of filtering efficiency and pressure drop.

抽象的 事实证明，口罩是防止传染病传播和传播的最有效工具 包括美国在内的许多国家都强制在公共场所或公共场所使用口罩。 保护医护人员和普通民众免受高传染性病毒株侵害的医疗保健机构 SARS-COVID-2 的全球强制执行导致了数十亿个 N95/外科口罩（其中 仅供一次性使用且不可降解）被丢弃在垃圾填埋场和海洋中，导致 除了病毒感染外，颗粒物（PM，即带有颗粒物的小颗粒）也对环境造成了重大危机。 世界各地化石燃料燃烧产生的尺寸为纳米或微米的污染物也对 尤其是 PM1.0 或 PM2.5（即尺寸分别小于 1 µm 和 2.5 µm）等小颗粒。 是最有毒和最有害的，因为它们可以进入呼吸道的更深处 甚至渗透到血液中，在这方面，口罩也是最有效的解决方案。 鉴于如此巨大的过滤需求，保护公众健康免受工业颗粒物和空气污染的影响。 口罩膜，传统的不可降解、一次性使用的大量且连续使用 口罩（例如N95和外科口罩）不仅会造成经济负担，还会造成环境污染 除了环境问题之外，目前每年还存在数十亿永久性塑料废物的危机。 口罩的一个显着缺点是在长时间连续使用后会失去过滤功能 暴露在潮湿的空气中，从而使口罩使用者无法抵御病毒感染的风险。 我们提出了一种新型聚左旋丙交酯（PLLA）和镁的压电复合纳米纤维网 氧化物（MgO）提供理想过滤膜的所有特性，包括（1）水分- 阻力，（2）机械强度好，（3）类似N95的过滤效率，（4）压降小，（5） 可重复使用性/消毒能力，以及 (6) 长期生物降解以避免对环境造成任何危害。 主要假设是通过创建高压 MgO/PLLA，然后采用多层 每层孔径/孔数可调的 MgO/PLLA 纳米纤维网，我们将能够生产 所需的过滤器具有高过滤效率和低压降，类似于 N95 口罩过滤器。 面罩并在第一阶段 SBIR 中证明假设，我们设计该项目有两个目标。 图1（6个月）是MgO/PLLA纳米纤维膜过滤器的压电效应表征， 目标 2（12 个月）是制造多层纳米纤维膜的机械性能和孔隙率。 具有微孔图案的MgO/PLLA纳米纤维网过滤膜，达到N-95 过滤效率和压降方面的性能。