4.5 Article

Development of Bioderived Alternatives to N95 Face Masks in a Remote Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience

Journal

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
Volume -, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00532

Keywords

Upper-Division Undergraduate; General Public; Polymer Chemistry; Inquiry-Based; Discovery Learning; Distance Learning; Self-Instruction; Hands-On Learning; Manipulatives; Problem Solving; Decision Making; Materials Science; Membranes; Undergraduate Research

Funding

  1. Carolina Quality Enhancement Plan
  2. Department of Chemistry at UNC-CH
  3. 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award
  4. Nort h Carolina Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network
  5. National Science Foundation [ECCS-1542015, AGS-2039788]
  6. National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, NNCI

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The high demand for nonbiodegradable petroleum-based N95 and surgical masks due to SARS-CoV-2 challenges the recycling industry. This research explores alginate and soy-based materials as alternatives for mask fabrication, which are cheap and readily available materials that require no specialized equipment.
The high demand for N95 and surgical masks made of nonbiodegradable petroleum-based materials due to SARS-CoV-2 challenges the recycling industry and is proving to be unsustainable. Although woven fabric masks present a longer lifetime, they are less effective in protecting against viral particulates. Here, through an at-home course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE), we demonstrate that alginate and soy-based materials are attractive alternatives for mask fabrication: stacking calcium ion-cross-linked alginate films with soy protein isolate sheets enables electrostatic and size-exclusion filtration. State-of-the-art aerosol testing confirmed this conclusion. Furthermore, because our synthetic and at-home analytical approach relies on cheap, abundant, and food-grade materials, and requires no equipment beyond kitchenware, it has the potential to be broadly adopted for practical and educational purposes.

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