Until a vaccine is found for corona, Shenkar College in Israel claims that they have succeeded in developing a substance that will make the familiar mask one that will not only make it difficult for the virus to penetrate - but also actively destroy it. It has not yet been scientifically proven that the solution does work, but the college has high hopes.
"Ordinary masks are just filters. We know that the effectiveness of a regular mask is about 80-90 per cent but they do not kill, they only filter. We have three layers of killing here," Prof. Shmuel Koenig, dean of the faculty, explained to N12. For Engineering at Shenkar College.
The development is still the familiar and infamous disposable mask. But after a short treatment, it will go into an antiviral solution that was brewed at Shenkar College, designed to turn it into a killer mask. Once the mask is ready to use, its colour changes to green.
"This substance actually includes ions called quarterly ammonium. There is a large series of such substances called disinfectants and it has been proven that at very low concentrations they kill this virus," explained Dr Eitan Israeli, a microbiologist and researcher at Tel Aviv University.
The substance itself is not harmful at all, it is also approved for use by the US Drug Administration. According to the laboratory staff at Shenkar, it will also be possible to wash the mask and use it many times and the coating will remain.
The development in question has not yet been scientifically proven against the corona. At Shenkar, they are waiting for an experiment and at the same time a grant from the Innovation Authority that will allow them to industrially produce masks for the masses. So if this is really true, we would like the whole country and the whole world to already start wearing this mask.
"We have an even bigger vision," Prof Koenig stressed. "Imagine that all the filters in the planes, the filters in the cars, the filters in the air conditioning of this lab, all the filters will be coated with this material."
The best minds in the world these days are thinking about how to improve the mask-wearing experience, which unfortunately will be in demand even after the vaccine. An independent venture in the network develops the transparent mask that sticks to the face, allows you to see the person behind the mask and also does not press on the ears. LG is expected to launch the masks with the miniature fan soon.