RAPID: Collaborative Research: Electrospun Nanofibrous Air Filters for Coronavirus Control

一个由乔治华盛顿大学和加州大学河滨分校的研究人员组成的合作团队正在开发电纺纳米纤维空气过滤器，用于控制包括SARS-CoV-2在内的冠状病毒的传播。新冠肺炎的流行在2020年引发了一个重大的公共卫生问题。新冠肺炎的传播很难控制，因为SARS-CoV-2在环境中具有持久性，它可能会悬浮在气雾剂中，通过空气远距离传播和感染。空气过滤是控制SARS-CoV-2传播的关键，然而，住宅、商业和工业建筑中使用的大多数空气过滤器在阻止病毒方面效果不佳。作为医护人员甚至普通公众的个人防护装备，能够有效捕获病毒的呼吸器和口罩也是此次大流行的迫切需要。静电纺丝已成为一种合成非织造纳米纤维垫的新技术，它既可用于大规模生产，也可通过便携式设备现场部署用于小规模应用。制造的纳米纤维垫是空气过滤的理想选择，因为它们具有更小的孔径以有效捕获病毒，具有较大的孔隙率以减少过滤中的空气压降，性能可控，以及机械坚固性和灵活性。这一快速研究项目将合理设计和制造用于控制冠状病毒的新型纳米材料空气过滤器，了解病毒病原体与纳米材料在复杂环境基质中的相互作用，并利用工程工具发起保护公众健康的快速反应。该项目将为学生提供科学和工程领域的培训，并为他们提供实践研究经验，并向来自不同背景和教育水平的学生，特别是来自代表性不足群体的学生介绍STEM的尖端研究。此外，该项目将通过教育单元、科学期刊和会议以及科学博览会传播所获得的知识，这将有助于提高普通公众的科学素养。该研究小组旨在合理设计和制造用于包括SARS-CoV-2在内的冠状病毒控制的高效、低成本、可扩展、易于实施的电纺纳米纤维空气过滤器，并了解空气过滤中冠状病毒的去除机理。研究人员将首先开发具有不同形态、保留电荷和选择性结合位置的电纺纳米纤维空气过滤器，以加强对含有冠状病毒的生物气溶胶的捕获。接下来将评估在不同环境条件下去除冠状病毒的效率，以了解空气过滤器的性能和坚固性。关键的病毒-纳米材料相互作用将在模拟和实验工具的帮助下确定，这可以指导未来空气过滤器的设计和优化。在这个快速项目中，研究人员还将测试空气过滤器的性能，以消除新冠肺炎患者居住的医疗机构中的SARS-CoV-2。这项拟议的研究将对纳米技术、微生物学和环境工程做出重大贡献，并可能在多尺度、合理、功能设计方面对整个材料领域产生潜在的变革。它不仅将提供对新冠肺炎爆发的快速反应和公共卫生保护，还将转化为控制其他剧毒病原体。该项目将为STEM学生提供培训，特别是向来自代表性不足群体的学生以及来自不同背景和教育水平的学生介绍尖端研究。此外，该项目将传播所获得的知识，以帮助提高公众的科学素养。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A collaborative team consisting of researchers from The George Washington University and the University of California, Riverside is developing electrospun nanofibrous air filters for controlling the transmission of coronavirus, including SARS-CoV-2. The pandemic of COVID-19 has raised a significant public health concern in 2020. The spread of COVID-19 is difficult to control, because SARS-CoV-2 is environmentally persistent and it can potentially be suspended in aerosols for long-range, airborne transmission and infection. Air filtration is crucial to control SARS-CoV-2 transmission, however most air filters used in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings are not effective for retaining viruses. As personal protective equipment for healthcare personnel or even the general public, respirators and masks that can effectively capture the virus are also urgently needed for this pandemic. Electrospinning has emerged as a novel technology to synthesize non-woven nanofibrous mats, and it is both industrially viable for large-scale manufacturing and deployable onsite for small-scale applications by a portable device. The fabricated nanofibrous mats are ideal for air filtration, because they have a reduced pore size to efficiently capture the virus, a large porosity to reduce air pressure drop in filtration, well-controlled properties, and mechanical robustness and flexibility. This RAPID research project will rationally design and fabricate novel nanomaterial-based air filters for coronavirus control, understand the interplay between viral pathogens and nanomaterials in complex environmental matrices, and initiate a fast response for protecting the public health with engineering tools. The project will provide training to students in science and engineering areas and offer them hands-on research experience, and introduce students from diverse backgrounds and educational levels, particularly those from underrepresented groups, to cutting-edge research in STEM. In addition, the project will disseminate the acquired knowledge through education modules, scientific journals and conferences, and science fairs, which will help increase the scientific literacy of the general public. The research team aims to rationally design and fabricate electrospun nanofibrous air filters that are effective, low-cost, scalable, and easy for implementation for coronavirus control, including SARS-CoV-2, and to understand the mechanism of coronavirus removal in air filtration. The researchers will first develop electrospun nanofibrous air filters with diverse morphologies, retained charges, and selective binding sites to enhance the capture of bioaerosols containing coronavirus. Coronavirus removal efficiency under different environmental conditions will next be evaluated to understand the performance and robustness of the air filters. Key virus-nanomaterial interactions will be identified with the aid of both simulation and experimental tools, which can guide future air filter design and optimization. For this RAPID project, the researchers will also test the performance of air filters for removing SARS-CoV-2 in a healthcare facility that houses COVID-19 patients. The proposed research will contribute significantly to nanotechnology, microbiology, and environmental engineering, and it can be potentially transformative in the field of materials at large in terms of multiscale, rational, functional design. It will not only provide a rapid response to COVID-19 outbreaks and public health protection, but also be translated into controlling other virulent pathogens. The project will provide training to students in STEM, particularly introduce students from underrepresented groups and students from diverse backgrounds and educational levels to cutting-edge research. Moreover, the project will disseminate the acquired knowledge to help increase the scientific literacy of the general public.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.