Preparation and evaluation antiviral activity of PA6-PAN/CuO nanofiber mask

Aim and Background: Personal respiratory protection recognized as a key element to prevent the spread of pandemic respiratory diseases such as the current outbreak of COVID-19. The development of face masks made of antiviral material, constitutes a valuable alternative to fighting the pandemic. The purpose of this study was investigated the antiviral activity potential of Copper oxide (CuO) incorporated in PA6-PAN nanofiber filter mask. Methods: PA6-PAN/CuO nanofiber was produced by electrospinning of PAN (15% by weight) and PA6 (20% by weight) containing CuO, then characterized by field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray diffraction. Also MTT assay were used to assess the biocompatibility of nanofibers and ntiviral activities were evaluated against influenza A virus (H1N1) based on TCID50 assay. Results and discussion: The result show that presence of CuO nanoparticles in proposed nanofiber exhibited proper morphological and structural without any cytotoxicity effect. The antiviral efficacy assessment revealed CuO incorporated nanofiber are highly effective in inactivating H1N1 virus after 2hours of exposure. Conclusion: These result indicate that PA6-PAN/CuO nanofibers can provide significant protection against the transmission of viral aerosols, which supports the hypothesis that the used CuO can reducing the spread of the virus.