Development of medical masks that ensure the retention and destruction of pathogens

The use of masks is envisaged as one of the most effective ways to prevent the transmission of diseases/diseases such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the mask applications, the most common ones are surgical (or medical) masks and N95 type masks in general. These masks have been intensively and widely used for similar purposes for decades. Surgical masks from these masks have become and remain the most widely used type, especially due to the economic advantages they have. On the other hand, the new generation of antibacterial or antiviral agents in the types of surgical masks to mask this mask with the addition of some bacteria and/or viruses by destroying the function of agents beyond keeping only such contamination prevention/life-saving functions to equip students with intensive research is being done on. For this purpose, especially in the new generation masks in question, agents with different biocidal effects Synthetic polymeric materials (for example, nylon, polyvinyl alcohol, etc.) are used in the preparation of a new generation of masks.), as well as biopolymeric structures (e.g. microbial polyesters, silk proteins, alginate, etc.) it can be used as a fiber material. In order to give biocidal properties to masks, it is possible to integrate various metal oxide nanostructures into mask materials by determining the most appropriate of the above-mentioned strategies. As an example of biocidal metal oxide materials, copper and zinc oxide structures are often considered materials. In the presented study, the designs of new generation masks using silk fibroin were carried out and it was tried to impart biocidal properties to the masks by using hydroxy apatite and copper oxides. In antibacterial effectivity studies, Staphylococcus Aureus, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Klebsiella Pneumoniae, Micrococcus Luteus have been used as bacterial lines and the mask material (fibers) have shown to be effective against all bacteria except Pseudomonas Aeruginosa with a particular copper oxide concentration. Also, it was detected that when the copper concentration increases, antibacterial effectivity is increased either.