Summary
The use of a masks became a necessity after the outbreak of
the coronavirus disorder (COVID-19), where its effectiveness in containing the
pandemic became showed. However, the pandemic has uncovered giant gaps inside
the potential to manufacture and boost up the global production of effective
surgical-grade face masks. As a result, many researchers have targeted their
efforts on developing low-fee, smart, and powerful face shields. In this text,
after a brief creation on the requirements for face mask, the diverse
nanotechnology-primarily based strategies to gain better safety against the
SARS-CoV-2 virus are reviewed, such as the improvement of nanoporous and
nanofibrous membranes, in addition to mask based on triboelectric
nanogenerators, which could filter the virus through various mechanisms
together with voltage, electrostatic attraction and electrocution. The
improvement of nanomaterial-based mask coatings to acquire antiviral and
sterilization abilties, such as antiviral, hydrophobic, and photothermal characteristics,
is likewise mentioned. Finally, the usability of nanotechnology-enabled face
masks is mentioned and compared to that of cutting-edge commercial-grade N95
masks. To finish, we spotlight the demanding situations related to the fast
switch of nanomaterial-based totally face mask and offer an overview of the
importance of nanotechnology in the combat towards COVID-19 and destiny
pandemics.
1. Introduction
Over the final many
years, the world has witnessed more than one pandemic respiration illnesses,
ranging from excessive acute respiration syndrome (SARS) and swine flu (H1N1)
to the most current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 or virus SARS).-CoV-2 ),
wherein the latter showed better fees of infection with severe scientific
complications. In fact, the COVID-19 disease changed into first pronounced to
the World Health Organization (WHO) in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, where it
become initially idea to exist in a huge quantity of bats and to be transmitted
to people. Humans thru moisture. Market. [one]. Due to the exceptional charge
of transmission of the disease, almost 90% of nations round the sector have
been affected as of March 2020 [2]. Although the virus has been showed to be
exceptionally infectious, maximum infected human beings are asymptomatic. At
the equal time, the maximum not unusual signs and symptoms consist of excessive
fever, dry cough, weak spot, and shortness of breath [3]. Existing studies have
defined the mechanism of virus transmission via breathing droplets that carry the
virus and are generated whilst the inflamed character sneezes, coughs or even
speaks. While the primary purpose for the unfold of the virus is direct touch
with an inflamed man or woman who coughs and/or sneezes, or the transfer of the
virus to any surface, which may be transmitted to another individual [4, 5].
Respiratory droplets can be divided into two main classes
based on their dimensions, where aerosols are much less than five μm whilst
droplets are greater than five μm. Due to gravitational forces, droplets
generally settle to a radius of 1 to 2 m, whilst lighter aerosols can travel
numerous meters for lengthy durations of time, which can cause a considerable
increase inside the spread of the virus [6 , 7]. In addition, it's been proven
that the symptoms can be extra or much less intense relying on the dose of
virus to which the character has been uncovered. The minimum dose of virus had
to make a given character ill is referred to as the infectious dose. Therefore,
a virus with low infectivity can be noticeably contagious, particularly in
populations that lack precise immunity. The infectious dose of the COVID-19
virus is unsure at the moment, but is believed to be low [8]. As a result, the
call for for masks has accelerated swiftly because of their capacity to create
a barrier between the character and floating respiration droplets.
Additionally, face masks help reduce the probability of hand-to-mouth and
nose-fingers that could lead to direct transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus at
points of access at the human face. This has led to the worldwide variation of
3 important practices to combat the pandemic: social distancing, maintaining
good hand hygiene, and sporting masks [9, 10].
In line with the underlying precaution provided with the aid
of the WHO recommending the usage of a face masks to incorporate the COVID-19
pandemic, numerous nations have made the use of a mask obligatory.
