Functional Fiber Membranes with Antibacterial Properties for Face Masks

• Published in: Advanced fiber materials (Online) Vol. 5; no. 4; pp. 1519 - 1533
• Main Authors: Natsathaporn, Papada, Herwig, Gordon, Altenried, Stefanie, Ren, Qun, Rossi, René M., Crespy, Daniel, Itel, Fabian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.08.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aluminum; Bacteria; Cellulose; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cleaning; Coliforms; Contaminants; Crosslinking; Curing; E coli; Fibers; Filtration; Masks; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Membranes; Metal oxides; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Pandemics; Photocatalysis; Polydimethylsiloxane; Polymer Sciences; Polymers; Renewable and Green Energy; Research Article; Textile Engineering; Textiles; Ultraviolet radiation; Viruses; Zinc oxide; Zinc oxides; Europe; Electrospinning; Zinc oxide; Antibacterial; Polydimethylsiloxane; Face mask
• ISSN: 2524-7921; 2524-793X; 2524-793X
• DOI: 10.1007/s42765-023-00291-7

Reusable face masks are an important alternative for minimizing costs of disposable and surgical face masks during pandemics. Often complementary to washing, a prolonged lifetime of face masks relies on the incorporation of self-cleaning materials. The development of self-cleaning face mask materials requires the presence of a durable catalyst to deactivate contaminants and microbes after long-term use without reducing filtration efficiency. Herein, we generate self-cleaning fibers by functionalizing silicone-based (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) fibrous membranes with a photocatalyst. Coaxial electrospinning is performed to fabricate fibers with a non-crosslinked silicone core within a supporting shell scaffold, followed by thermal crosslinking and removal of the water-soluble shell. Photocatalytic zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are immobilized on the PDMS fibers by colloid-electrospinning or post-functionalization procedures. The fibers functionalized with ZnO NPs can degrade a photo-sensitive dye and display antibacterial properties against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria ( Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus ) due to the generation of reactive oxygen species upon irradiation with UV light. Furthermore, a single layer of functionalized fibrous membrane shows an air permeability in the range of 80–180 L/m 2 s and 65% filtration efficiency against fine particulate matter with a diameter less than 1.0 µm (PM 1.0 ). Graphical abstract