Covid-19 already has a rival in Mexico: the first graphene face shield is launched for health personnel and the general population

• The first graphene face shield was launched in Mexico, which guarantees total protection 

Plastic and related materials are easily penetrated by the virus

Against the pandemic, one of the main challenges of the international scientific community has been the effective safeguarding of doctors, nurses and support personnel who work in hospitals and care centers. 

Installed on the front line of the battle that has practically paralyzed the world, there are thousands of infections and hundreds of deaths of doctors and nurses, who, even in some countries, have been attacked in the face of widespread fear derived from ignorance and prejudice. In the coverage that we have carried out since the beginning of the crisis, today it is the turn of the issue of in-hospital protection, increased by the shortage of basic supplies, such as mouthguards, masks, glasses, clothing and footwear specially designed to guarantee safety .

In an interview, the experts in graphene Maribel Navarro and Dania Hernández, PhDs in Polymer Technology and in Engineering and Materials Science, respectively; from the research area of ​​the Mexican company Energeia Fusion (GRAPHENEMEX®), they tell us the main characteristics of the face shield with graphene oxide, which is the only product of its kind worldwide that integrates graphene nanotechnology, with Mexican technology, designed especially to protect against microorganisms of a sizes in the nanometer range, such as COVID-19.

(Energeia Fusion’s Face Shield with Graphene Oxide). Photo-Courtesy

“We are intensifying our line of work, focused on taking advantage of the characteristics of graphene in medical protection applications and for the general population, obtaining the specially functionalized graphene compound for face shields that are already being produced by millions in Mexico City”, explained the experts. 

And they detail: “In the specifications of face shields of various plastic materials taken as a model, it is mentioned that the plastic can only block particles of around 3 microns (equivalent to 3000 nanometers). The coronavirus, which measures 200 nanometers, easily passes that material through the pore. Instead, with graphene oxide, the filter is reduced to just 3-5 nanometers, so the coronavirus simply does not pass.  

(Energeia Fusion’s Face Shield with Graphene Oxide). Photo-Courtesy

“In other words, the efficiency criteria in normal face shields are at the micron level, whereas with graphene it is at the nanometer level. It is an absolutely different scale. In other words, graphene oxide increases the filtration efficiency of the masks a thousand times, ” they point out.

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