A brand new materials that captures coronavirus particles. Credit score: College of Liverpool
College of Liverpool researchers develop a brand new materials that captures coronavirus particles and will rework the effectivity of face masks.
A analysis staff on the College of Liverpool has developed a brand new materials that captures coronavirus particles and will rework the effectivity of face masks and different filter gear to cease the unfold of COVID-19 and different viruses.
In a paper printed within the journal Nature Communications, the staff confirmed that the brand new materials utilized in a standard face masks was roughly 93% extra environment friendly at capturing proteins, together with coronavirus proteins, with little influence on breathability.
The Liverpool scientists behind the brand new materials are Professor Peter Myers, a analysis chief in chromatography, and Dr. Simon Maher, a mass spectrometry knowledgeable.
They’d been collaborating on high-performance liquid chromatography processes the place proteins “stick” to the floor of the chromatographic help supplies.
Through the pandemic, Professor Myers realized that reversing this course of would offer a method to take up proteins, and particularly the protruding S1 spike protein which covers the outer lipid membrane of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Working collectively, the staff from the College of Liverpool’s Division of Chemistry and Electrical Engineering and Electronics, “re-tuned” the floor of the spherical silica particle they used for chromatography to make the floor very “sticky” for the COVID-19 S1 spike protein.
On the similar time, they elevated the porosity of the silica particle to offer it a really massive floor space of 300m2 per gram, which is roughly the identical space as a tennis courtroom. Moreover, they elevated the interior quantity of the silica sphere to offer a big capability to “seize” the virus.
The brand new materials is on the proof of idea stage and the staff has proven it really works in face masks along with air filters akin to these utilized in airplanes, automobiles, and air con.
The group, which incorporates the Liverpool Faculty of Tropical Drugs, additionally developed a technique to connect the sticky particles onto the floor of a standard face masks.
Professor Peter Myers stated: “This proof of idea analysis has solely scratched the floor and while COVID-19 is now not a world menace to our well being, this materials has the potential for use in a variety of functions. Our analysis staff is creating extra superior “sticky” surfaces for quite a lot of bioaerosols together with the brand new Covid variant BA.2.86 in addition to influenzas and different lethal viruses akin to Nipah.”
Reference: “Attaching protein-adsorbing silica particles to the floor of cotton substrates for bioaerosol seize together with SARS-CoV-2” by Kieran Collings, Cedric Boisdon, Tung-Ting Sham, Kevin Skinley, Hyun-Kyung Oh, Tessa Prince, Adham Ahmed, Shaun H. Pennington, Philip J. Brownridge, Thomas Edwards, Giancarlo A. Biagini, Claire E. Eyers, Amanda Lamb, Peter Myers and Simon Maher, 18 August 2023, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40696-x
