COVID-19: Development of High-Efficiency Sub-micrometer Particulate Air Filtration Material using Aligned Electrospun Nanofibers

近期爆发的COVID-19疫情，迄今为止在全球感染病例数量、死亡率、社会影响以及经济和金融影响方面对人类福祉造成了前所未有的影响。由于疫苗的开发和测试平均需要1-2年，因此需要控制，特别是考虑到这种病毒可能反复爆发。口罩是遏制这种COVID-19病毒的重要因素，特别是对于那些在医疗保健和其他基本服务第一线工作的人。 SARS-CoV-2的主要特征之一是其亚微米尺寸。这大大限制了可用于有效过滤的可用材料的数量。现有的有效过滤材料，如N95口罩，大大减少了通过口罩的空气流量，当长时间佩戴时，口罩具有潜在的健康影响。 这项合作研究和伙伴关系项目的目标是开发一种新的过滤材料，使用对齐的静电纺丝纳米纤维，可以有效地过滤亚微米颗粒尺寸，如COVID-19，并提高空气流动能力。将研究具有不同取向、尺寸、间隙和材料的纺丝纳米纤维层与过滤效率和压降的关系。 这项研究工作将减少长期佩戴口罩的个人所面临的健康风险。这将使加拿大在制造这种可靠和实用的口罩方面发挥主导作用，最重要的是，它将拥有一个能够在大流行期间支持加拿大需求并在全球供应的国家工业。这符合加拿大政府和制造业在COVID-19疫情期间采取的疫情应急计划，以确保“我们尽一切努力帮助遏制新型冠状病毒”。

The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has made, so far, an unprecedented impact on human well being in terms of number of infected cases, mortality rate, societal impact and the economic and financial implications worldwide. As vaccine development and testing can can take an average of 1-2 years, containment is required, especially given repeated outbreaks of this virus are possible. Masks are an important element for the containment of this COVID-19 virus, especially for the those working on the frontlines in health care and other essential services. One of the main characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 is its sub-micron size. This drastically limits the number of available materials that can be used for effective filtration. Available effective filtration materials such as N95 masks greatly reduce air flow through masks which has potential health implications when worn for long durations. The goal of this collaborative research and partnership project is to develop a new filtration material, using Aligned Electrospun Nanofibers that can effectively filter sub-micron particle sizes such as COVID-19 and improve air flow capability. Layers of spun nanofibers with different orientation, size, gap and material will be studied in relation to filtration efficiency and pressure drop. This research work will reduce the health risk imposed on individuals wearing masks for extended durations. This will put Canada in the leading role in manufacturing such reliable and practical masks and most importantly to have a national industry that can support Canada's needs during pandemic times and supply globally. This is inline with the pandemic emergency plan that Canadian government and manufacturing sectors took during this COVID-19 pandemic to ensure "we do all we can to help contain the novel coronavirus".