Developed a mask that self-disinfects with heat

The Technion Institute of Technology in Israel has developed masks that self-clean with heat and are intended to replace disposable ones, which are much more expensive economically and environmentally speaking.

Electrical chemist Yair Ein Eli, professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Technion center in Haifa, and dean of the center, has confessed that "the invention was completely accidental." And he explains that, while at the institute working, he saw a messenger wearing a very dirty mask and he told him that he had been wearing it for four days. After this confession, Ein Eli thought it would be a good idea to try putting a disposable mask in the oven, to check its heat resistance, in the hope of withstanding the 60 degrees Celsius and 15 minutes that kill the coronavirus. And he endured. In fact, it stayed intact for up to 12 hours in the oven. So he set out to incorporate a portable oven into normal masks.

Ein Eli's team added a heating element to normal masks: a layer of carbon fiber that is heated using a low current (two amps), the same current generated when connecting a cell phone charger, a USB cable or the charger. any electronic device. Thus, after reaching 60-70 degrees Celsius, the heat kills the pathogens.

The task of disinfecting the mask lasts a little less than half an hour and, according to its inventor, it can be used repeatedly: "So far 12 heat cycles can be done with the masks we have, we are going to soon do hundreds of cycles before the mask says it can't take it anymore. This heating element can be placed on any mask."

Researchers estimate that it will cost around a dollar (less than a euro) and have already requested a patent in the United States so that its arrival on the market is not delayed.