Smart and Low-Cost Face-Shields Capable of Protection, Prevention and Detection for Essential Workers Fighting COVID-19 Pandemic

冠状病毒很容易通过感染者咳嗽、打喷嚏或呼出的飞沫在人与人之间传播。因此，迫切需要开发安全、自我消毒的个人防护装备(PPE)，以克服目前使用的PPE(谷歌眼镜、护目镜和工作服)带来的问题。这项拟议的技术建立在提高防护罩表面温度以杀死病毒的想法上。根据美国国立卫生研究院、美国疾病控制与预防中心、加州大学洛杉矶分校和普林斯顿大学进行的研究，SARS(冠状病毒家族的成员)在不同的表面上稳定了几个小时到几天。然而，已经证明，65摄氏度以上的温度可以杀死或灭活大多数病毒。基于这一想法，我们建议在面罩/防护罩的表面涂覆一种透明导电聚合物。一种轻便、经济高效的电路将透明导电聚合物转化为加热元件，将表面温度提高到阈值以上，从而杀死病毒。在升级版中，我们提供了一种智能技术，可以使用图案化的导电聚合物来检测病毒。值得注意的是，智能聚合物层可以很容易地涂覆在制造设施的防护罩表面或已经安装/使用的防护罩上，例如一线工作人员和基本服务人员使用的防护罩。这项技术在农村和偏远社区尤其有益)，在这些地方，个人防护设备的消毒设施不容易获得。

The Coronavirus is easily transmissible from person to person through droplets conveyed from coughing, sneezing, or exhalation of an infected person. As such, it is highly urgent to develop safe, self-sanitized personal protective equipment (PPE) to surmount the problems associated with currently used PPE (googles, gawns and coveralls). The proposed technology is founded on the idea of increasing the surface temperature of protective shields to kill the virus. Based on performed research studies by the National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA, and Princeton University, SARS (a member of the Coronavirus family) is stable over various surfaces for several hours to days. However, it has been proven that the temperature above 65°C can kill or inactivate most of the viruses. Building on this idea, we propose coating the surface of face/protective shields with a transparent conducting polymer. A lightweight, cost-efficient electrical circuit converts the transparent conducting polymer to a heating element to increase the surface temperature above the threshold to kill the virus. At an upgraded version, we offer a smart technology to use a patterned conducting polymer to detect a virus. Of note, the smart polymer layer can be easily coated on the surface of protective shields in manufacturing facilities or on already installed/used protective shields, such as those used by frontline workers and essential service workers. This technology is particularly beneficial in rural and remote communities), where sterilisation facitilites for personal protective equipment is not easily accessible.