The experiments took place in two plexiglass boxes connected by a tube. In one chamber, the team created a cloud of particles and blew them toward the tube, which was covered by different combinations of cloth. Mike Schmoldt and Greg Moss, environmental safety experts at Argonne who specialize in respirator testing and the effects of aerosol particles, used laboratory-grade scientific instruments to measured the number and size of particles in the chambers before and after passing through the fabric.

According to their results, one layer of a tightly woven cotton sheet, combined with two layers of polyester-based chiffona sheer fabric often used in evening gownsfiltered out the most aerosol particles (80% to 99%, depending on particle size). Substituting the chiffon with natural silk or a polyester-cotton flannel, or simply using a cotton quilt with cotton-polyester batting, produced similar results.

Though the study does not attempt to replicate real-world conditions, the findings are a useful guide. The researchers pointed out that tightly woven fabrics, such as cotton, can act as a mechanical barrier to particles; whereas fabrics that hold a static charge, like certain types of chiffon and natural silk, can serve as an electrostatic barrier. The electrostatic effect serves to suck in and hold the tiniest particles, which might otherwise slip through holes in the cotton. This is key to how N95 masks are constructed.

However, Guha added, even a small gap reduced the filtering efficiency of all masks by half or more, emphasizing the importance of a properly fitted mask.

Fabrics that did not do well included standard polyester and spandex with more open weave. In general, Guha said, fabric with tighter weaveswith fewer gaps between the strands of yarnworked better.

This is some of the first methodical data Ive seen on homemade masks. Its very helpful to have some idea of how the different types of fabric perform, said Emily Landon, executive medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Chicago Medicine. I was also pleasantly surprised by how effective some of the homemade masks can be in the right conditions.

Landon noted that the advice to wear homemade masks while out in public is intended primarily to protect others from your own respiratory droplets, and that universal adoption of this recommendation will go a long way to make everyone safer.

In that case, any mask is better than none.

The first author on the study was Abhiteja Konda with Argonne National Laboratory. The other authors were Argonnes Abhinav Prakash as well as Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering graduate student Gregory Grant. The team used the U.S. Department of Energys Center for Nanoscale Materials user facility at Argonne National Laboratory.

Citation: Aerosol Filtration Efficiency of Common Fabrics Used in Respiratory Cloth Masks. Konda et al, ACS Nano, April 24, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c03252

Funding: partly supported by the U.S. Department of Defense Vannevar Bush Fellowship

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Homemade masks made of silk and cotton may boost protection - UChicago News