KAIST Develops 'Nanofiber Mask'... Reusable Even After Washing

Photo showing the microstructural changes of the nanofiber filter before and after hand soap washing. Provided by KAIST

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] KAIST has developed a nanofiber mask. This mask maintains its performance even after washing and reuse, and is expected to help alleviate the mask shortage phenomenon amid the recent surge in mask usage due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

According to KAIST on the 16th, Professor Kim Il-du from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and his research team recently announced the development of a nanofiber membrane using their proprietary technology that aligns nanofibers either orthogonally or unidirectionally.

Professor Kim’s team controls the orientation of nanofibers to manufacture ‘orthogonal nanofibers,’ a process that minimizes pressure drop in air filters and maximizes filtration efficiency, distinguishing it from conventional isotropic nanofiber materials.

In particular, masks based on orthogonal nanofibers maintained an initial filtration efficiency of over 94% even after 20 cycles of ethanol sterilization washing. The results were the same after 20 hand washes. Above all, even after soaking in ethanol for more than 3 hours, the nanofibers did not dissolve nor did the membrane warp, providing the advantage of being usable for over a month through ethanol sterilization and washing.

This overcomes the limitations of existing electrostatic fiber filters, where the static electricity formed on the fiber surface diminishes over time, preventing full preservation of the initial air filter performance, and where exposure to moisture or water causes the electrostatic function to disappear, drastically reducing filter efficiency and making reuse impossible.

These advantages (overcoming limitations) are also expected to contribute to resolving the global mask shortage phenomenon caused by the recent surge in mask demand due to COVID-19.

Professor Kim emphasized, “Masks based on aligned nanofiber filters can be reused even after ethanol disinfection washing or light hand washing. This can contribute to simultaneously solving the mask shortage problem and environmental issues caused by mask disposal.”

He added, “The research team plans to commercialize the research results through related procedures such as obtaining approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and increase production by expanding mass production facilities. Along with this, we will also devote efforts to developing high-quality filters that enhance usage safety by imparting antibacterial functions to the products.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.