ArticleThe Science of the total environment2020
The need for fully bio-based facemasks to counter coronavirus outbreaks: A perspective.
Article in The Science of the total environment, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 161 citations in OpenAlex.
- Advances in electrospun nanofiber-based personal protective equipment for active filtration.Discover nano · 2026Review
- Face mask littering: environmental impacts, regulatory challenges, and AI-driven waste management strategies for the postpandemic era.Turkish journal of medical sciences · 2026Review
- Synthesis of Eco-Friendly Biocompatible Membranes and Filters from Sugar Cane and Banana Byproducts.ACS omega · 2025Article
- Eco-Friendly Fire-Retardant Coating on Cotton Using Layer by Layer Deposition Technique.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Reusable Personal Protective Equipment Viewed Through the Lens of Sustainability.International dental journal · 2024Review
- Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions.The Science of the total environment · 2023Review
- The Impacts of Plastic Waste from Personal Protective Equipment Used during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Polymers · 2023Review
- Development of Carbon-Nanodot-Loaded PLA Nanofibers and Study of Their Barrier Performance for Medical Applications.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Waste management beyond the COVID-19 pandemic: Bibliometric and text mining analyses.Gondwana research : international geoscience journal · 2023Article
- Review
- Worldwide fight against COVID-19 using nanotechnology, polymer science, and 3D printing technology.Polymer bulletin (Berlin, Germany) · 2023Review
- A review of disposable facemasks during the COVID-19 pandemic: A focus on microplastics release.Chemosphere · 2023Review
- A road map on synthetic strategies and applications of biodegradable polymers.Polymer bulletin (Berlin, Germany) · 2022Review
- Analysis of Marine Microplastic Pollution of Disposable Masks under COVID-19 Epidemic-A DPSIR Framework.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The Impact of COVID-19 on the Sustainable Development Goals: Achievements and Expectations.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Prospect of microplastic pollution control under the "New normal" concept beyond COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of cleaner production · 2022Review
- Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes for Controlling Airborne Viruses: Present Status, Standardization of Aerosol Filtration Tests, and Future Development.ACS environmental Au · 2022Review
- Virucidal and biodegradable specialty cellulose nonwovens as personal protective equipment against COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of advanced research · 2022Article
- Face Masks to Combat Coronavirus (COVID-19)-Processing, Roles, Requirements, Efficacy, Risk and Sustainability.Polymers · 2022Review
- COVID-19 Pandemic and Microplastic Pollution.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The onset of coronavirus pandemic has sparked a shortage of facemasks in almost all nations. Without this personal protective equipment, healthcare providers, essential workers, and the general public are exposed to the risk of infection. In light of the aforementioned, it is critical to balance the supply and demand for masks. COVID-19 will also ensure that masks are always considered as an essential commodity in future pandemic preparedness. Moreover, billions of facemasks are produced from petrochemicals derived raw materials, which are non-degradable upon disposal after their single use, thus causing environmental pollution and damage. The sustainable way forward is to utilise raw materials that are side-stream products of local industries to develop facemasks having equal or better efficiency than the conventional ones. In this regard, wheat gluten biopolymer, which is a by-product or co-product of cereal industries, can be electrospun into nanofibre membranes and subsequently carbonised at over 700 °C to form a network structure, which can simultaneously act as the filter media and reinforcement for gluten-based masks. In parallel, the same gluten material can be processed into cohesive thin films using plasticiser and hot press. Additionally, lanosol, a naturally-occurring substance, imparts fire (V-0 rating in vertical burn test), and microbe resistance in gluten plastics. Thus, thin films of flexible gluten with very low amounts of lanosol (<10 wt%) can be bonded together with the carbonised mat and shaped by thermoforming to create the facemasks. The carbon mat acting as the filter can be attached to the masks through adapters that can also be made from injection moulded gluten. The creation of these masks could simultaneously be effective in reducing the transmittance of infectious diseases and pave the way for environmentally benign sustainable products.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.