Even as the coronavirus pandemic continues, some people find it increasingly difficult to wear protective face masks. Experts believe and emphasize that they protect our health and at the same time effectively stop the spread of Covid-19. The excuses are completely justified, as it is difficult and uncomfortable to breathe with a mask and many say that it is harder for people to understand them when they are wearing them. People automatically monitor their mouths when talking to others. These problems will be solved with the innovation of transparent protective masks coming from Switzerland.
Fortunately, there is a solution to all these problems, this time it comes from the Polytechnic School of Lausanne and the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Science and Technology. A team of researchers from these two institutions spent two years working on a prototype face mask that provides adequate protection, doesn't interfere with breathing, and is also transparent so people can see your full face when you're talking to them.
Unlike similar models of transparent masks that blur when people breathe or speak, the Swiss prototypes named HelloMasks they always remain perfectly clean. Masks are made of special organic material biomass-based, meaning they are biodegradable and recyclable.
To produce this material, the researchers used a so-called technique electro-spinning, with the help of which they created ultra thin threads, which are only distant from each other 100 nanometers. In this way, masks enable the unhindered passage of necessary particles from the air, but not bacteria and viruses.
Such transparent masks are not yet available to the public, but that could change soon. Namely, the inventors recently started production, and mass production has been planned since last year 2021. Transparent masks HelloMasks they will first be available to healthcare professionals, but later they plan to sell them over the counter as well.
More information:
epfl.ch
