Communications of the ACM
Engineers Design a Heated Face Mask to Filter and Inactivate Coronaviruses
The reusable mask would include a heated copper mesh that's powered by a battery and surrounded by insulating neoprene.
Credit: MIT News
Researchers from MIT are working to create a face mask that can filter out and inactivate coronaviruses using heat.
The researchers aim to build masks that incorporate a heated copper mesh. As the person wearing the mask breathes in and out, air flows repeatedly across the mesh, and any viral particles in the air are slowed and inactivated by the mesh and high temperatures. Such a mask could be useful for health care professionals and for members of the public in situations where social distancing would be difficult to achieve, the researchers say.
"This is a completely new mask concept in that it doesn't primarily block the virus. It actually lets the virus go through the mask, but slows and inactivates it," says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.
The researchers have begun building prototypes and hope to begin testing them soon. They described the new concept and design in a paper posted to bioRxiv, an online preprint server. They have also submitted the paper to a peer-reviewed journal.
From MIT News
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