Innovative Nanonet Membranes with High-Efficient PM2.5 Removal and Rechargeable Photoantibacterial Activities for Respiratory Health
Abstract
This application addresses two Topic Areas: (1) “Respiratory Health” -- “Research on the prevention of respiratory symptoms and ailments possibly associated with deployed and redeployed military personnel” and “Research on the prevention of obstructive pulmonary disease.” (2) “Emerging Infectious Diseases” -- “Development of novel interventions for vector control, including but not limited to novel insecticides, larvicide applications, and barrier methods.” This application addresses these two topics by developing air filters with highly efficient PM2.5 removal and rechargeable photo-antimicrobial activities for respiratory health. An adult breathes an average 15 m3 every day as a vital requirement. However, particulate matter (PM) pollution, especially PM2.5 (with aerodynamic equivalent diameter = 2.5 µm), has raised serious concerns for public health because it can penetrate small airways in the body (like lung, bronchus, etc.) and carry abundant bacteria/viruses, indicating a close relationship with current public health outbreaks caused by emerging infectious diseases (EID). Ideally, air filters like respirators should filtrate PMs and be antimicrobial. A recent report from the United States Environmental Protection Agency reported that approximately 2.1 million deaths occur worldwide every year due to high concentrations of PM2.5. EID is a significant burden on global economies and public health. EID outbreaks, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, avian influenza, and Ebola virus disease (EVD), have shaped the course of human history and caused incalculable misery and death. This issue was highlighted by the 2014 EVD epidemic crisis in West Africa where a total of 28,646 EVD cases along with 11,323 deaths were confirmed; this was an example of the unpreparedness in the public health system. In this application, the objective is to develop innovative air filters with high-efficiency PM2.5 (with aerodynamic equivalent diameter = 2.5 µm) removal and rechargeable photo-antimicrobial activities for respiratory health and EID prevention. The rationale is that nano-net membranes with thin thickness and high porosity will provide a unique slip effect of air molecules and will lead to low air resistance and ease of capture of microorganisms for air filtration, and the photoactive nano-net membranes will store the biocidal activity under light irradiation and readily release antimicrobial agents under dim light or dark conditions, achieving rechargeable antimicrobial activities. Success of this application will lead to the discovery and development of an innovative approach to develop novel nano-net membranes with small pore size, high porosity, and capacity of producing, storing, and releasing biocidal reactive oxygen species (ROS) driven by the daylight. This project is innovative because (i) the current state-of-the-art filter membranes based on electrospun nano-fibers suffer from low filtration efficiency and high air resistance due to thick fiber diameter, limited surface area, and inadequate porosity. The proposed unique 2D nano-net structures with diameters of ~20 nm (one order less than that of conventional electrospun nano-fibers) will be employed as the scaffolds, showing significantly higher surface area and porosity. Different from other studies, the proposed nano-net based membranes can provide a unique slip effect of air molecules, which is expected to result in low resistance for gas transport and fast kinetics for microorganism killing. (ii) Currently, most personal protective respirators used to prevent EID transmission and infections typically lack antimicrobial activity. This application will develop green bioprotective nanofibrous membranes with rechargeable antimicrobial activities that can effectively produce biocidal ROS driven by the daylight. (iii) The proposed one-step electro-netting technology provides a facile and cost-effective strategy for large-scale fabrication of high
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 10, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2010076
Entities
People
- Sameera Wickramasinghe
Organizations
- United States Army
- West Virginia University