ArticlePhysics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994)2021
Evaluating a transparent coating on a face shield for repelling airborne respiratory droplets.
Article in Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Bouncing microdroplets on hydrophobic surfaces.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Development and evaluation of a fluidic facemask for airborne transmission mitigation.Experimental thermal and fluid science · 2023Review
- Improving Indoor Air Ventilation by a Ceiling Fan to Mitigate Aerosols Transmission.Transactions of the Indian National Academy of Engineering : an international journal of engineering and technology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A face shield is an important personal protective equipment to avoid the airborne transmission of COVID-19. We assess a transparent coating on a face shield that repels airborne respiratory droplets to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The surface of the available face shield is hydrophilic and exhibits high contact angle hysteresis. The impacting droplets stick on it, resulting in an enhanced risk of fomite transmission of the disease. Further, it may get wetted in the rain, and moisture may condense on it in the presence of large humidity, which may blur the user's vision. Therefore, the present study aims to improve the effectiveness of a face shield. Our measurements demonstrate that the face shield, coated by silica nanoparticles solution, becomes superhydrophobic and results in a nominal hysteresis to the underlying surface. We employ high-speed visualization to record the impact dynamics of microliter droplets with a varying impact velocity and angle of attack on coated and non-coated surfaces. While the droplet on non-coated surface sticks to it, in the coated surface the droplets bounce off and roll down the surface, for a wide range of Weber number. We develop an analytical model and present a regime map of the bouncing and non-bouncing events, parametrized with respect to the wettability, hysteresis of the surface, and the Weber number. The present measurements provide the fundamental insights of the bouncing droplet impact dynamics and show that the coated face shield is potentially more effective in suppressing the airborne and fomite transmission.
Identifiers
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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.