New type of mask can detect whether there is new coronavirus in the surrounding area and issue an early warning within 10 minutes

Family, masks are now being used to a new level.

The latest invention of Tongji University directly upgrades the mask into a "detector":

Developed a bioelectronic mask that can detect whether there are viruses around it!

More specifically, this kind of mask can detect a variety of common respiratory viruses, including influenza, coronavirus, etc. (such as new coronavirus, H5N1, H1N1) within 10 minutes.

If the virus is detected, the mask will send you an early warning through a mobile device such as a mobile phone.

This study has been published in the journal Matter recently, and according to the researchers:

This electronic biological mask can serve as an early warning Diagnostic tool to prevent outbreaks of respiratory infectious diseases.

#How do masks provide early warning of viruses?

We know that when people cough or sneeze, or even just talk for a few minutes, thousands of droplets containing infectious viruses are produced.

These droplets will remain suspended in the air for a long time, using the air as a medium of transmission.

Based on this, researchers put forward a view:

Directly detecting viruses in the air may be the best method for early diagnosis of major infectious diseases.

However, past methods often involve a series of problems such as sample preprocessing and the need for professional personnel.

So it has become a difficult problem to implement this method in real time, fast and conveniently.

Ever since, researchers from Tongji University thought of combining the currently popular wearable electronic devices with masks -

created a wearable wireless bioelectronic mask system.

#When people wear such a mask, the bioelectronic device installed outside the mask can directly analyze infectious viruses in the air.

At the same time, mobile devices such as mobile phones can also obtain feedback from wireless data in real time.

This mask contains an IGT (Independent Gas Transfer) device, and the channel material is made of "poly(2,3-dihydrothiophene-1,4-dioxin)-poly(styrenesulfonic acid) Salt)(PEDOT:PSS)".

In addition, it also includes a breathing valve and a PCB (Printed Circuit Board).

In order to make this device fit better with soft and curved masks, the material used to create it is a thin and flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate.

In terms of detecting viruses, this mask needs to be "accurate enough."

To this end, the researchers used a dual-solvent system to improve the compatibility of lipophilic ionic liquids and hydrophilic PVA, forming a uniform ion gel network.

This results in long-term stability, high capacitance (16.5μF cm-2) and strong ionic conductivity (5.95 × 10-3 S/cm at 25°C).

Due to the strong carrier induction and significant gating effect of the ion gel dielectric layer, the IGT device exhibits better field amplification performance.

Even if the viral protein concentration of respiratory infectious diseases like COVID-19, H1N1 and H5N1 is as low as 0.1-10 fg/ml, accurate detection can be carried out.

The researchers also said that this device can be sensitive to trace-level liquid samples as low as 0.3μL, which is much smaller than the volume of virus-containing droplets produced by coughing and talking.

Finally, the team also integrated the Internet of Things system so that the bioelectronic mask can be operated and monitored on mobile devices anytime and anywhere.

The researchers also said:

The detection effect of our masks is very obvious in spaces with poor ventilation, such as elevators or closed rooms. The risk of infection is high in these places.

If a new respiratory virus emerges in the future, the sensor design can be easily updated.

Research Team

The corresponding author of this article is Professor Fang Yin from Tongji University School of Medicine.

The current main research directions include: biomedical micro-nano devices and nanomaterials; implantable and wearable micro-nano devices; new brain-computer interface technology; diagnosis and treatment applications of nanomedicine in the nervous system, heart diseases and cancer .

Reference link:

[1]https://www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(22)00477-5?_returnURL=https://linkinghub. elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2590238522004775?showall=true[2]https://med.tongji.edu.cn/info/1401/7236.htm

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