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Tytuł:
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Recharging N95 masks using a van de Graaff generator for safe recycling.
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Autorzy:
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Sugihara K; Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba Meguro-Ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan. .
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Źródło:
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Soft matter [Soft Matter] 2021 Jan 07; Vol. 17 (1), pp. 10-15. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Dec 17.
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Typ publikacji:
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Journal Article
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Język:
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English
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Imprint Name(s):
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Original Publication: Cambridge, England : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2005-
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MeSH Terms:
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COVID-19*
N95 Respirators*
Pandemics*
SARS-CoV-2*
Static Electricity*
Humans
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Entry Date(s):
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Date Created: 20201217 Date Completed: 20210112 Latest Revision: 20210112
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Update Code:
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20240105
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DOI:
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10.1039/d0sm02004d
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PMID:
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33331381
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N95 respirators, used in the current COVID-19 pandemic, filter virus-containing aerosols using the static electricity of melt-blown polypropylene sheets. Their shortage at hospitals demands their recycling, but the standard sterilization methods, including alcohol spraying, washing, autoclaving, and heating in hot water, cannot be easily implemented because they compromise the electrostatic charges and thus their filtering effect. We report that a van de Graaff generator, commonly used for the demonstration of static electricity, can be used as a safe, cheap and quick method to recover the polypropylene electric charges that are lost during sterilization processes. We will show that this recharge also restores the masks' filtering function.