IIT-G develops coating for cloth masks for Covid protection

The research scholars of the the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have developed and designed a Nanometer Thick Superhydrophobic Coating material to modify ordinary cloth or silk masks for greater comfort and better protection against aerosol-driven infections such as Covid.

Pointing out that the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends N95 masks or double masking for protection from Coronavirus but N95 masks are expensive and wearing them for a long period of time can lead to asphyxia, the IIT research scholars said that it is found that cloth and silk masks, which are less expensive and more commonly available, are used by most people.

The coating material that IIT Guwahati researchers have found is aimed at ensuring a safer, cost-effective and comfortable alternative to N95 masks. The coating will modify the easilyavailable cloth mask into a hydrophobic mask to repel virus-laden droplets and avoid breathing difficulties even when worn for a longer period of time. Another benefit is that these masks are versatile and can be used with other additives such as antibacterial nanomaterial to provide additional protection against viruses.

The research was led by Arun Chattopadhyay of the department of Chemistry and Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT Guwahati, and Partho S.G. Pattader, department of Chemical Engineering, School of Health Science and Technology, and Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT Guwahati.

“A cloth mask is largely porous to aerosol and cannot effectively prevent Covid infection. An improved version could prevent the entry or exit of aerosol. We have worked on that based on the principle of repulsion of aerosol by the modified cloth while allowing the air to flow through the mask. A simple coating of the hydrophobic molecule on the silk cloth worked well here,” Mr Chattopadhyay said. An instrument called gas chromatography was used to examine the breathability of the mask by measuring the oxygen permeation.