Thanks to a collaboration with researchers from the University of Lille, a French start-up offers masks capable of decontaminating themselves.

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A fabric that looks like classic masks, but with additional properties: in Troyes, masks capable of self-decontamination are produced on a large scale. “It looks like a traditional material that goes into making masks but it has the particularity of having this anti-viral and antibacterial property“, explains Gaëtan Gerber, engineer.

A trap for the virus

This product was designed using a technology combining two molecules, discovered in the premises of the University of Lille. “The first we will fix it, graft it on the textile. This molecule is called cyclodextrin and it is a cage molecule. The second molecule is the molecule that will be virucidal. This molecule is part of the class of quaternary ammoniums. And so it will be fixed in this way, quite solidly on the fiber of the textile.“, details Professor Bernard Martel, researcher in biomaterials.

The mask would then become a trap for the virus, unlike traditional masks: “This mask has a real action of decontaminating the air flows which enter through the mask and the air flows which leave the mask. So the decontamination is done while wearing the mask, during the recommended time of use of 4 hours for single use, and the decontamination continues after that almost permanently, that is to say that the mask after use is an object much less contaminated than a traditional mask“, adds Gaëtan Gerber. Be careful, wearing it does not exempt you from respecting other barrier gestures.

See also on Allodocteurs.fr

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