Leveraging Wettability Engineering to Develop Three-Layer DIY Face Masks From Low-Cost Materials

With the rapid spread of COVID-19 worldwide, the demand for appropriate face masks in the market has also skyrocketed. To ease strain on the supply of masks to the essential healthcare sector, it has become imperative that ordinary people rely more on home-made masks that can be easily put together using commonly available materials, while at the same time performing reasonably at arresting the ingress or egress of airborne droplets. Here, we propose a simple do-it-yourself (DIY) method for preparing a three-layered face mask that deploys two hydrophobic polypropylene nonwoven layers interspaced with a hydrophilic cellulosic cloth. The first hydrophobic layer, facing the user, allows high-momentum droplets (e.g., expelled by a sneeze or cough) to pass through and get absorbed in the next hydrophilic layer, thereby keeping the skin in contact with the mask dry and comfortable. The third (outermost) hydrophobic layer prevents penetration of the liquids from the middle layer to the outside, and also arrests any airborne droplets on its exterior. Simple tests show that our masks perform better in arresting the droplet transmission as compared to surgical masks available in the market.