New Hydrogen Bonding Enhanced Polyvinyl Alcohol Based Self-Charged Medical Mask with Superior Charge Retention and Moisture Resistance Performances

The water vapor exhaled by the human body can severely accelerate the charge dissipation of a polypropylene (PP)-based medical mask, thereby reducing the electrostatic adsorption efficiency to cause infection. To solve this problem, a new type of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based medical mask through electrostatic spinning to replace the PP melt-blown layer, which has self-charging and charge retention performance in a high humidity environment is fabricated. The PVA is rich in hydroxyl groups, which can spontaneously form hydrogen bonds with water vapor molecules exhaled by the human body and fix water molecules to increase the triboelectricity. By analyzing the electrical output performance of PVA-based triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), it is shown that the short circuit current is approximate to 26 times larger than that of PP-based TENG in 95% relative humidity (RH). Moreover, PVA has a strong charge storage capacity and self-charging performance, as determined by hand touching under a high humidity environment. The static dissipation rate of PVA is 1.4 times lower than that of PP at a 95% RH. In comparison with PP-based medical masks, PVA-based medical masks have a high humidity resistance and self-charging performance and can be easily recharged in situ by hand slapping without taking it off for many times.

Automated summary

PVA-based medical masks fabricated through electrostatic spinning exhibit superior antistatic and self-charging performance compared to PP-based masks in high humidity environments. They can be easily recharged in situ multiple times by hand slapping.