Synthesis and characterization of silver-incorporated calcium phosphate antibacterial nanocomposites for mask filtration material

Abstract Mask filtration materials play an important role in biological protective masks. Masks with active antibacterial functions can cutting off the transmission of pathogenic bacteria to protect population health. Porous calcium phosphate (CaP) has good biocompatibility and with high specific surface area, porous CaP shows excellent air filtration performance. However, CaP usually exhibits poor antibacterial activities. In this paper, the porous silver-incorporated calcium phosphates were studied as a mask filtration material. CaP powders composed of various Ag concentrations (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 wt%) were prepared, characterized and evaluated for antibacterial functions. Environmental aerosol particles filtration test results indicated that the Ag CaP mask filtration materials can effectively filter aerosol particles in the environment. The filtration efficiency of Ag CaP mask filtration materials for PM10, PM2.5 and PM1.0 were 96%, 91% and 85%, respectively. The antibacterial experiments revealed that the Ag CaP mask filtration materials showed super antibacterial effect. The filtration efficiency of staphylococcus aureus aerosol was above 96%. Synthesis of nanosized Ag CaP as an antibacterial agent is of potential importance in active anti-bacterial bioprotective masks.