Face masks, as we have seen, have been effective in filtering out the SARS-CoV-2 virus, thus reducing the risk of a coronavirus infection. A group of scientists from MIT now aim to develop a mask that uses heat to inactivate viruses.
These innovative masks will have a built-in, heated copper mesh. When an individual who is wearing the mask breathes in and out, the air flows across the mesh repeatedly, which slows and inactivates any viral particles in the air using high temperatures and the mesh. The researchers state that this mask could be useful for health-care providers as well as people who are in places where social distancing is hard to achieve, such as on crowded buses.
A professor of chemical engineering at MIT, Michael Strano, who is also the senior author of the paper, says the mask is based on a new concept that inactivates the virus instead of blocking it, which is what current masks do. The team is currently building the prototypes and hopes to start conducting tests on the masks soon. In a paper posted to on ArXiv, the team describes its design and revolutionary concept.
The paper’s lead author is Samuel Faucher, an MIT graduate student. Other authors of the paper include Jacopo Buongiorno, an MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering; Xiaojia Jin, Xinyao Liang and Daniel Lundberg, who are all MIT graduate students; Dorsa Parviz, a postdoc; and undergraduate Rosalie Philips.
Buongiorno and Strano began looking into concepts for new types of face masks earlier in March. After discovering no masks were designed to kill viruses using heat, the group started designing a mask that would do the job. The team members settled on copper as the capture and heating element and then carried out some mathematical modelling designed identify the optimal temperature range required to kill the coronaviruses flowing outward or inward from natural breathing.
While a majority of the masks used today work by filtering particles by electric charge or size, this new mask design would function by thermal inactivation and rely on a different mechanism. After the virus is inactivated, the air is cooled to make the mask safe to use and comfortable.
Furthermore, the masks do not need to be disposed of after use nor do they require decontamination. This is mainly because, unlike the masks used today, such as cloth masks, surgical masks and N95 respirators, the virus is killed. The masks also offer extra protection because they eliminate the virus instead of filtering it out.
The researchers point out that, although the masks will be more expensive, they will be more useful in high-exposure situations when compared to normal masks, which makes cost a small concern.
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