In the ongoing fight against COVID-19, experts on microbiology and copper are recommending an expanded use of the metal to reduce the virus’s spread. So might copper be incorporated into the construction of masks, the universally accepted virus-fighting personal item?

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In the prototype of the mask’s filter, a ring with V-shape “fins” was designed to increase the surface area where air passes through more channels. That’s what Jing Zhang of the School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI and a team of researchers are doing, using a copper coating on 3D-printed plastic filters to create more-efficient masks and respirators. “One study in 2015, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, said that a copper alloy can kill 58 percent of infections,” said Zhang, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering . “We can use copper plating to cover some […]

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