Extended Abstract

Antiviral Membrane-based Face Masks for Preventing the SARS-CoV-2

Virus Transmission During COVID-19 Pandemic
Ahmad Zulfikar Hanif
SMA Negeri 1 Semarang, Jl. Taman Menteri Supeno No.1, Mugassari, Kec.
Semarang Sel., Kota Semarang, Jawa Tengah 50249
Abstract
The provision of better personal protection equipment during current Covid-19
global pandemic is essential to reduce the transmission along with social
distancing, personal hygiene, vaccine, and contact tracing. The data suggests
that universal masking, especially using multilayer surgical face masks, offers a
powerful efficacy for indoor places. The membrane-based face masks offer
higher efficiency in virus protection due to its excellent selectivity. The membrane
polymer can be combined with ZnO nanoparticles that possesses antiviral and
antibacterial properties. Thus, this membrane-based face masks can mitigate the
secondary transmission of contaminated disposed face masks. The fabricated
membrane filter showed smooth porous surface with average pore size of 0.1
µm. The tensile strength and elongation break of the best membrane filter were
10.52 MPa anf 10.33%, respectively. The filtration test showed that the
membrane reached sieving efficiency up to 95%. The preferred face mask
structure was three layered masks consisted of hydrophobic outer layer for
mechanical filtration, second layer of antiviral membrane-filter, and third layer
was support layer. The mask was also featured with comfort skin cloth,
aluminium sealing, and earloops. In a future perspective, these issues should be
addressed to develop non-toxic and high-performance durable biodegradable
multifunctional surgical face masks.
Keywords: Antiviral, Antibacterial, Covid-19, Coronavirus, Face masks,
Membrane

Introduction use of personal protective equipment

Coronavirus disease (Covid-19)
has surged around the globe since
2020. World Health Organization
(WHO) has announced a Public Health
Emergency of International Concern
on January 2020 in response to the
emersion of a novel coronavirus in
Wuhan, China (Das et al., 2021). The
transmission of the severe acute
respiratory syndrome coronavirus
(SARS-CoV-2) is more prominent than
the others corona virus variants
(Babaahmadi et al., 2021). Later, on
March 11, 2020, WHO announced
COVID-19 to be a pandemic.
Therefore, in every part of the world,
the authorities urge the widespread
to prevent the further spread of the
virus (Allison et al., 2020).
With the rapid spread and
emergence of Covid-19, the usage and
utility of masks and respirators for the
common people have been advised by
the government. In Indonesia, the
government has given an urging order
to use masks and hygiene facilities
through regulation number
HK.02.02/I/385/2020 to prevent the
transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus
happens through droplets (>5 – 10 µm)
and bioaerosol (< 5 µm) in the form of
particulate matters (Checchi et al.,
2021; Pivato et al., 2021). The human
transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurs
through direct and indirect pathways.
Direct pathways include the airborne
spread through breathing, talking,
sneezing and coughing with different
gas flow velocities (1-100 ms-1) while
indirect pathways transmit PMs
(fomite) by close contact routes, such
as saliva droplets and contact with
contaminated surfaces (Huang et al.,
2018). The experts recommend of
using face masks that able to block
particulate matters containing viruses.
During this Covid-19 pandemic,
the usage of face masks is suggested
by Governments and WHO to control
the further spread of SARS-CoV-2.
There are some types of face masks
suggested by WHO: (a) surgical mask,
(b) cloth mask, (c) cloth mask with
head loop, (d) fold model type K95, (e)
fold model type N95, (f) cup model
type N95, (g) full-length face shield
(Setti et al., 2020). A cloth face masks
is inexpensive and made of cotton
fabric. The wear of this type of masks
is instructed for protection if medical
masks are unavailable. The protection
from virus of cloth masks is far bellow
the surgical mask, but it can still
provide the basic protection from
droplet (Ju et al., 2021). Medical of
surgical mask is specially designed to
provide protection from virus
transmission. Surgical masks contain
three layers: an internal tender
absorbent sheet, a central
polypropylene obstacle, and an
exterior hydrophobic surface (Ardusso
et al., 2021). This face mask delivers
protection from droplets in a clinical
setting. The design of the surgical
masks relies on the mode; usually, the
masks are three-ply (three layers) and
4 ply (four layers). This three-ply fabric
is composed of a melt-blown polymer,
most generally polypropylene, placed
between the non-woven fabric. It has 3
layers, the external layer repels water
droplets, the middle layer serves as a
filter and the interior layer absorbs
moisture. Even though the surgical
masks are effectively protecting from
the virus transmission, it still gives
possibility to transmit the virus. The
virus containing particles that are
restrained in the mask layer may still
active and spread through touching.
Thus, in this project an antiviral and
antibacterial membrane-based face
masks will be developed to help the
outbreak mitigation during Covid-19
pandemic.
The face masks basically work
through a combination of different
mechanisms including gravitation,
straining, inertial impaction,
interception, (Brownian) diffusion,
intermolecular interaction, and
electrostatic interactions. The
efficiency of each filtration mechanisms
is a function of the particle size of the
matter that will be retained. Therefore,
the size of the target airborne SARS-
CoV-2 bioaerosols and
microorganisms must be considered
while designing the porosity and
tortuosity of the filter media. The
average size of bioaerosol containing
virus is around 0.3 µm where the size if
too small to be captured via
interception effects by nonwoven
media used in surgical face masks
(Babaahmadi et al., 2021). Therefore,
in this study, the filter media is
fabricated using polymeric membrane
from polyethersulfone (PES) where the
pore size can be easily tailored
regarding the size of captured particle.
PES is a common polymer that usually
used for membrane fabrication with
various pore size (0.001 µm – 10 µm).
The ZnO nanoparticles was also
incorporated in this membrane filter to
provide the antiviral and antibacterial
activity. Karagoz et al. (2021), and
Dicastillo et al., (2020) have reported
the activity of ZnO as antibacterial
agent against several pathogenic
microbes such as Staphylococcus
aureus and Escherichia coli.
Mizielińska et al., (2021) revealed the
antiviral behaviour of ZnO against
SARS-CoV-2 that is transmitted via
respiratory droplets. The antiviral
masks created in this study can be
used to break the chain of virus
spread. Thus, the results of this study
are expected to be a solution in
controlling the spread of the SARS-
CoV-2 virus so that new normal
conditions can be achieved soon.
Methods
Materials preparation
The materials used in this
experimental study were
polyethersulfone (PES), Zinc oxide
nanoparticles (NPs) with average
particle size of 300 nm, N-methyl-2-
pirrolidone as polymer solvent,
polyethylene glycol as pore-forming
agent, woven and non-woven cloth,
and pure water.
Antiviral membrane filter fabrication
(a)
Figure 1. (a) schematic procedure and (b) experimental documentation of
membrane fabrication
Membrane characterization
The fabricated membrane was
characterized to evaluate the physical
properties before being used for
membrane filter in face masks. The
morphological membrane surface was
evaluated using scanning electron
microscope (SEM). This procedure
The fabrication of membrane
filter was performed using phase
inversion method according the
previous study (Kusworo et al., 2020)
as shown in Figure 1. The dope
solution was made by preparing
polymer solution and nanoparticle
suspension. The polymer solution was
prepared by dissolving 14 wt% PES
and 2 wt% PEG into NMP solvent. The
nanoparticles suspension was
prepared by mixing ZnO nanoparticles
of 1 wt%, 2 wt% and 3 wt% into NMP
solvent. The polymer solution and
nanoparticles suspension were then
mixed and stirred for 6 h and allowed
to stand for 24 h at room temperature.
The solution was cast onto clean glass
plate with thickness of 150 µm. The
polymer film was subsequently
immersed into pure water for phase
inversion. The membrane formed was
then dried on an oven at 50 µm.
(b)
was aimed to observe the surface
pores profile directly (Zhang et al.,
2020). The second characterization is
mechanical strength test. This test was
used to observe the tensile strength
and elongation break of the
membrane. The mechanical strength
determined the life-span of the
membrane during its usage.
Polymer filtration test
The antiviral membrane
performance in filtering virus particle
was tested using filtration test
(Andrade et al., 2015). The solution
containing polymer solute (crosslinked
Dextran) with average particle size of
150 nm. The typical size of corona
virus is around 100 – 300 nm. This
(a)
Figure 2. Equipment set in membrane filtration test (a) schematic design, (b)
laboratory-scale filtration test set
Results and Discussions
Membrane filter morphology
The membrane surface
morphology was carried out to
evaluate the characteristic of surface
and pore size. As shown in Figure 3,
the membrane surface at 500x and
750x magnification showed surface
with uniform pores. The pore size was
estimated at around 0.1 – 0.2 µm. This
pore size in in the range of SARS-
CoV-2 virus particle. However, the
pore size still smaller than the size of
droplet and bioaerosol (1 – 10 µm).
thus, it can be concluded that the
membrane filter is effective to filter
polymer solute was suitable particulate
model for representing the virus
particle. The polymer solution was
filled into feed vessel and the
membrane was placed in the
membrane holder as shown in Figure
2. The upstream section was linked
with nitrogen gas bottle for providing
upstream pressure. The permeate
solution was collected and the
concentration of polymer in the
permeate was analysed to evaluate the
efficiency of polymer removal.
(b)
particulate matters during inhalation. In
the Figure 4, it shows the distribution of
particulate matters size. The size of
molecules is bellow 0.1 µm and the
size of virus particles is around 0.1 –
0.5 µm far bellow the size of bacteria
and typical human cells (1 – 10 µm).
Based on this size distribution
information, the membrane produced
in this work can pass the molecule
through the barriers, partially excludes
the viruses, and rejects the bacteria
completely. The presence of ZnO
nanoparticles can overcome the
deposition of virus particulates and
bacteria on the membrane filter
through antiviral and antibacterial
activity.
 Figure 3. SEM images of membrane surface morphology

Figure 4. Size distribution of particulate matters (Babaahmadi et al., 2021)

Membrane mechanical Strength
Characterization of mechanical
strength is one way to evaluate the
strength of the membrane to respond
to externally applied forces. One test
method is to stretch the material with
several forces to evaluate the tensile
strength, stress-strain behavior, and
elongation before breaking. The
mechanical strength of the membrane
is correlated with the service life of the
resulting membrane. membrane is
correlated with the service life of the
resulting membrane. Table 5 shows
the tensile strength and elongation
break of fabricated membranes with
variations in the concentration of ZnO
nanoparticles. With the addition of 1%
ZnO nanoparticles, the tensile strength
was 8.43 MPa, and the elongation
break was 12.3% higher than that of
native PES membrane (6.87 MPa and
9.8% elongation break). The addition
of 2% ZnO nanoparticle concentration
Table 1. Mechanical properties of the membrane filters
Membrane Tensile strength
further improved the tensile strength up
10.52 MPa but decreased in
elongation break at 10.33%. The
improved tensile strength is attributed
with the presence of ZnO nanoparticles
that helped in absorbing the energy
load during stretching test, however
the increased loading of nanoparticles
developed the disintegration of
polymer chain. The loading at 3%
shows significant decrease in both
tensile strength and elongation break
at 9.87 MPa and 8.87%, respectively.
The increase in tensile strength and
the elongation break is also influenced
by ZnO nanoparticles, facilitating the
heterogeneous crystallization process,
resulting in smaller crystal grains. In
addition, the incorporation of ZnO
nanoparticles in the membrane helps
absorb the energy applied to the
membrane during mechanical testing
(Atef et al., 2015). Overall, the antiviral
ZnO-containing membrane are suitable
for a filter media in face masks due to
their improved mechanical strength
compared with native polymers.
Elongation break
 (MPa) (%)
Native PES 6.87 9.8
PES with 1 wt% ZnO 8.43 12.33
PES with 2 wt% ZnO 10.52 10.33
PES with 3 wt% ZnO 9.87 8.87
Polymer filtration test results mechanism and interaction. The
particle capture capacity of fibrous
Filtration test of polymer filtering media depends on the
solution was carried out to evaluate the interactions between the particulate
ability of membrane filter to retain the matters, individual fibers, the tortuous
virus particulates. In this experiment, filter structure, and the fluid molecules
the virus particulate was modelled by and their kinetic parameters; this is
using polymer particle with the same described by the single-fiber particle
particle size. The profile of polymer collection theory. The common
rejection by membrane is presented in commercial masks media available
Figure 5. The rejection efficiencies of now are from nonwoven, meltblown,
polymer solute of all membranes are electrospun, and combination thereof
around 88 – 95%. It indicates that the the polymer such as polyethylene,
membranes are effective in filtering polypropylene, polyamide,
virus and pathogenic bacteria from polyethylene terephthalate,
exhalation droplet. The best polymer polyacrylonitrile, and poly lactic acid
rejection was shown by membrane (Khayan et al., 2021). Composite
filter with 2 wt% ZnO loading. The nonwovens can be used to enhance
higher rejection could be due to the the mechanical integrity of high
contribution of electrostatic repulsion efficiency filtering layers through
by ZnO nanoparticles that enhanced consecutive processes (Erben et al.,
the polymer exclusion (Ahmad et al., 2016). Composite structures usually
2020). According to this result, the consist of multiple layers, each layer
fabricated membrane has met the serving a specific performance in the
specification for filter media in face separation/filtration process. In this
masks to prevent the transmission of work, we proposed the composite
viruses from either droplet or structure of hydrophobic spunbond-
bioaerosol from exhalation (cough or membrane filter-meltblown polymer as
sneeze). illustrated in Figure 6. The first layer of
spunbond nonwoven was responsible
as mechanical filter that filter large
particulate such as dust, water droplet,
hair, etc. this layer has hydrophobic
surface properties to prevent the
attachment of water droplet from
exhalation and accumulation of dirt.
The second layer is membrane filter
that responsible in filtering virus
particulates and microbes that pass
Figure 5. Profile of polymer rejection through the first layer. The third layer is
efficiencies in membrane filtration test support that provide shape consistency
of the masks thus the user feels easier
to breath. This design is following the
Structure of antiviral membrane- standard surgical mask structure that
based masks has been proven effectively prevent
the virus transmission. The whole
The air filtration by face masks
structure includes an outer layer
occurs in a combination of different
(droplet and stain resistant), inner or
middle layer(s) (the filtering layer), an
outer layer (comfort layer for the skin
touch), inner and outer nosepieces
Figure 6. Schematic view of droplet exhalation and membrane-based face masks
Future prospective and possible
challenges
Face masks that introduce new
functionalities of antiviral and
antibacterial along with their efficient
particulate filtration can provide high
performance of personal protection
equipment for the severe condition.
Due to the high demand of surgical
face masks and the severe pandemic
situation, the disposal of used face
masks will be another problem of
secondary virus transmission. The
introduction of antiviral and
antibacterial face masks will encounter
this problem where the disposed
masks have no potential to harm other
people through secondary
transmission due to the in-situ
disinfection of ZnO nanoparticle
containing in the face masks. For
further development, it is needed to
design and produce the antiviral face
masks from bio-based material that
highly biodegradable. Biodegradable,
reusable, and antivirus masks have
gotten special attention as a has uniform pore size of 0.1 µm. The
sustainable solution to alleviate the
current shortage. Besides filtering and
blocking the inhaled aerosols,
chemical deactivation of droplets with
antiviral, antibacterial or sanitizing
molecules, as they pass through the
fibrous layers, is another sought-after
(foam and flexible coated aluminum,
respectively, to provide better sealing),
and headbands/earloops (elastic
rubber straps).
characteristic in face masks. In a future
perspective, these issues should be
addressed to develop non-toxic and
high-performance durable
biodegradable multifunctional surgical
face masks.
Conclusions
The novel variant of SARS
corona virus has played an important
role in disease transmission. With the
Covid-19 global pandemic, many
sectoral activities have been disturbed
including economic, public health, and
education. The personal protection
equipment is required to mitigate the
spread of viruses. The conventional
face masks have shown effectivity in
filtering the virus particulate, it is
however the secondary transmission
due to the accumulation of viruses and
bacterial matters in used face mask.
The fabrication of membrane filter for
face mask has been successfully
fabricated. The characterization
procedures show that the membrane
mechanical strength test also exhibited
excellent result with highest tensile
strength of 10.52 MPa. The filtration
tests also revealed that all the
membrane reached polymer rejection
efficiency up to 95%. The preferred
masks structure for this antiviral mask
was spunbond nonwoven polymer – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.
membrane filter – meltblown polymer. 2015.05.006
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