Development of Multi-Scale Fibers for Respiratory Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) against COVID-19

新冠肺炎疫情的爆发和医疗器械，特别是个人防护用品(PPE)的短缺，促使加拿大工业对这些至关重要的产品进行自给自足的制造能力。用于N95口罩的高性能过滤材料对于通过过滤传染性飞沫来防止疾病传播至关重要。然而，连续使用会导致呼吸能力下降，因为过滤后的颗粒会堵塞毛孔。 卡尔加里大学的团队与工业合作伙伴建立了合作关系，以制造经过强脉冲光(IPL)处理的纳米和微米纤维，以创造中空纤维，以提高呼吸能力。此外，对纤维施加静电电荷，以提高材料的过滤能力。为了实现多尺度纤维，采用了微米纤维的熔喷法和纳米纤维的电纺丝方法。聚丙烯将在不同的纤维生产参数下使用，如温度、吹气压力、熔喷过程中到基材的距离，以及静电纺丝中施加的电压和到基材的距离。 创新之处不仅在于纤维的多尺度，还在于对纤维进行IPL和静电改性处理。我们以前的研究表明，纳米纤维在IPL的特定条件下发生了转变，形成了中空和多孔的纤维。我们预计，改性纤维具有更高的单位体积表面积，以提供增强的病毒和细菌收集以及增加的呼吸能力。这项调查将为加拿大生产的增强型呼吸口罩提供帮助，从而提高个人防护装备应对基本服务提供商的高要求的准备，并促进对HQP进行各种专业和技术技能的培训。

The pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 and the shortages of medical devices especially for personal protective equipment (PPE), urged the Canadian industry for the self-sufficient manufacturing capacity of these vital products. High-performance filter materials for N95 respirator masks are crucial to prevent the transmission of diseases by filtering out contagious droplets. However, the continuous usage leads to the reduction in breathing capacity as filtered particles block the pores. The University of Calgary team has formed a collaborative relationship with the industrial partner to fabricate nano and microscale fibers treated with intensive pulsed light (IPL) to create hollow fibers to improve the breathing capacity. Moreover, electrostatic charge is applied to the fibers to enhance filtration capacity of the material. To achieve multi-scale fibers, the melt-blowing method for microfibers and the electrospinning method for nanofibers are used. Polypropylene will be used under varying fiber production parameters such as temperature, blow pressure, distance to the substrate for the melt-blowing process, and the applied voltage and distance to the substrate for the electrospinning. The novelty in the proposed innovation lies not only in the multi-scale fibers but also in the IPL and electrostatic charged treatments for the modification of fibers. Our previous studies showed that nanofibers have transformed under the specific condition of IPL, creating hollow and porous fibers. We expect that the modified fibers exhibit higher surface areas per volume to provide enhanced virus and bacteria collections as well as increased breathing capacity. This investigation will provide the Canadian produced enhanced respiratory masks, thereby increasing the readiness of PPE against the high demands at essential service providers as well as facilitate training of HQP with a variety of professional and technical skills.