Ricerc@Sapienza

The global health emergency situation caused by the appearance of CoVid-2019 has shown how population habits must be changed to face the challenge, and how this has greatly increased the market demand for specific goods, such as disinfectants and protective masks. The latter, for a long period of time, was unavailable on the market, since nominal world production, able to satisfy the needs under normal conditions, has not proved to be sufficient in emergency events.
The protective masks are disposable, or can be used for a certain short period of time, which requires their frequent replacement. This practice was not adopted by the population, as the number of protective masks on the market was limited and the price expensive. The risk of not changing the protective masks as recommended consists in a loss of their effectiveness, especially if they were exposed to a virus containing aerosol. Under these conditions, the protective system could easily fail.
The purpose of NANOMASK is to develop a casting solution containing antiviral nanoparticles to add to the filter matrix of FPP2 type protective masks, with the target to enhance their life time and durability and when in contact with the virus, capable to eliminate it. The focus will be set on two different nanomaterials, that is Nanosilver and Nanozeolite, stand-alone or in mixture, and will be produced by means of a spinning disk reactor by bottom-up approach to a specific controlled size and shape. In addition to this, the addition of Resveratrol produced by green chemistry methods will be checked. All casting films on the masks will be optimized to allow integration of the nanomaterials in the face mask filter matrix. Moreover, functionality of the casting film on antiviral efficiency will be measured and validated. Finally, industrial process optimization and design will achieve production of enhanced face masks with maximum antiviral durability and safety, and sustainability by face mask waste reduction.