Plastic pollution was already one of the greatest threats to our planet before the coronavirus outbreak. The huge increase in the daily use of plastic disposable facemasks, along with other forms of PPE to keep people safe and stop the spread of disease, is not sustainable. Numerous reports are emerging everyday imaging and documenting the huge increase in PPE found on river banks and beaches. It is currently impossible to go for a walk from your home without seeing some form of discarded plastic PPE waste polluting the environment. We intend to change this by developing a sustainable filter material that is effective at stopping very small particles, smaller than the COV19 virus (60nm) and thus effectively stop virus transmission as well as eliminate the damage the current masks are doing to the environment. This filter material will be integrated into masks for the general public.

The UK economy is forecast to shrink 35%, with 2 million jobs lost. Until immunisation becomes available nation-wide (and worldwide), there is a significant risk of major disruption and the UK cannot afford a return to lockdown. Face masks are the new norm, but, apart from the high-end medical N95 respirators, no other filters are rated to stop viruses effectively. The supply of high-end respirators must be prioritised for frontline medical staff.

Our solution is to manufacture filters using eco-freindly nanofibres made from biodegradable polymers such as cellulose. These filters which are highly-breathable, flexible and can be used as inserts into natural textile, simple face masks. This will increase the protection of cloth masks (even home-made ones) significantly, with the efficiency then being ruled by the tightness of the fit around the filter/face. The nanofibres will also harness static electricity through engineered scientific design to trap and hold even the smallest of nanoparticles, and may be of further use in areas of high pollution or for people with chronic respiratory problems.

Nanofibres are produced using a high electric field to pull a fibre out of a droplet of solution on the end of a needle (a process called electrospinning), a very slow process that would make filters for ~3 masks/day. Due to electrostatic shielding, bringing more needles to bear is not a linear process, requiring higher and more unsafe voltages, and limiting the choice of materials that can be used. Our innovation is a modular solution that increases deposition rates by 1000 - 10000 times per module.

In this project, we will develop the prototype eco-friendly filter material, validate it independently for viral filtration and move to pilot production of a consumer and a medical filter.