Abstract
Due to the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for disposable facemasks has become a global issue. Unfortunately, the use of these products has negative effects on the environment, and therefore, the use of biodegradable materials is a powerful strategy to overcome this challenge. Aligned with this concept, in this work, biodegradable facemasks were developed using poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) polymer and cotton natural fibers. The filter layer was produced using an electrospinning technique, since electrospun membranes present remarkable characteristics for air filtration. The electrospun membranes were functionalized with different nanoparticles (NPs), including silver (Ag), titanium dioxide (TiO2) and magnesium oxide (MgO), in order to include new properties, namely antibacterial effect. The developed membranes were characterized by FESEM, EDS, ATR-FTIR, GSDR and TGA, which confirmed the successful impregnation of NPs onto PCL membranes. The antibacterial effect and filtration efficiency were assessed, with the PCL/MgO NPs membrane presenting better results, showing inhibition zone diameters of 25.3 and 13.5 mm against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, respectively, and filtration efficiency of 99.4%. Three facemask prototypes were developed, and their filtration efficiency, air permeability and thermal comfort were evaluated. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of PCL/NPs electrospun membranes to act as an active and biodegradable filter layer in facemasks.
Highlights
The sudden outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has contributed to the extensive production and consumption of facemasks worldwide, creating a new and serious environmental challenge.Facemasks are generally composed of nonbiodegradable polymers, such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyurethane, polystyrene, polycarbonate and polyacrylonitrile, and the disposal of these facemasks generates a large amount of waste, causing severe ecological problems and becoming a new source of microplastics [1,2].researchers have been looking for innovative strategies to develop facemasks with a similar or better performance to the existing nonbiodegradable ones, to minimize the negative environmental impact
The introduction of two electrospun membranes resulted in a reduction in temperature in the three locations. These results demonstrated that the incorporation of electrospun membranes can improve the thermal comfort when compared to cotton-based facemasks
Biodegradable antibacterial PCL/NPs electrospun membranes were produced to act as a filter layer of a facemask
Summary
The sudden outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has contributed to the extensive production and consumption of facemasks worldwide, creating a new and serious environmental challenge.Facemasks are generally composed of nonbiodegradable polymers, such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyurethane, polystyrene, polycarbonate and polyacrylonitrile, and the disposal of these facemasks generates a large amount of waste, causing severe ecological problems and becoming a new source of microplastics [1,2].researchers have been looking for innovative strategies to develop facemasks with a similar or better performance to the existing nonbiodegradable ones, to minimize the negative environmental impact. Electrospun fibers exhibit outstanding properties, such as a high specific surface area, which results in the higher adsorption capacity of contaminants, controllable small diameters, highly porous structure with small pore sizes and internal interconnectivity, flexibility and possibility of functionalization with active agents. Due to their low weight and high permeability, these fibrous membranes provide high filtration efficiency, without adding extra weight and maintaining the wearer’s comfort and breathability [7,8,9,10]
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