A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have designed a thick coating material to enhance shielding of cloth masks against Covid-19. The material, called the ‘Nanometer Thick Superhydrophobic Coating’ will be embedded in the cloth or silk masks to provide better protection. The research was led by Prof. Arun Chattopadhyay, Department of Chemistry and Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT-G, and Dr. Partho S.G. Pattader, Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Health Science and Technology, and Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT-G.
The team has designed the coating material to provide both comfort and safety to the users. The material will modify these cloth masks into hydrophobic masks, further providing protection from the virus laden droplets. The oxygen penetration of these modified masks will be more in comparison to N95 masks, thus supplying a way more sustainable option.
