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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Tech and Science -> 
N95 masks could soon be rechargeable
    2020-09-16  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

A system proposed by researchers at Technion-IIT in Israel and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India could lead to an N95 mask that you can recharge.

N95 masks use both mechanical filtering, in which particles are caught in a matrix of microscopic fibers, and electrostatic filtering, in which particles are attracted to surfaces that carry a static charge. It’s like the old trick where you rub a balloon on your head and it sticks but at the scale of microns.

The combination of these two methods makes N95 masks very effective, but the electrostatic charge, like any charge, dissipates after time as air and moisture pass over it. While decontamination via UV or high temperature may help keep the mechanical filter from becoming a tiny petri dish, they do nothing to restore the electrostatic charge that acted as a second barrier to entry.

In a paper published in the journal Physics of Fluids, researchers show that it’s possible to recharge an N95’s filter to the point where it was close to off-the-shelf levels of efficacy. All that’s needed is to place the filter between two plate electrodes and apply a strong electric field. “We find that the total charge on the masks depends strongly on the charging time with the pristine value almost reattained after a 60-minute charge at 1000 V.”(SD-Agencies)

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