Journal
NANO LETTERS
Volume 20, Issue 10, Pages 7642-7647Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03182
Keywords
COVTD-19; face mask; filtration; mask fit; aerosol; exposure testing
Categories
Funding
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health [R43ES030650]
- Virginia Tech's Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS)
- NSF [ECCS 1542100]
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Shortages in the availability of personal protective face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic required many to fabricate masks and filter inserts from available materials. While the base filtration efficiency of a material is of primary importance when a perfect seal is possible, ideal fit is not likely to be achieved by the average person preparing to enter a public space or even a healthcare worker without fit-testing before each shift. Our findings suggest that parameters including permeability and pliability can play a strong role in the filtration efficiency of a mask fabricated with various filter media, and that the filtration efficiency of loosely fitting masks/respirators against ultrafine particulates can drop by more than 60% when worn compared to the ideal filtration efficiency of the base material. Further, a test method using SARS-CoV-2 virion-sized silica nanoaerosols is demonstrated to assess the filtration efficiency against nanoparticulates that follow air currents associated with mask leakage.
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