An intelligent face mask integrated with high density conductive nanowire array for directly exhaled coronavirus aerosols screening

The current ongoing outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has globally affected the lives of more than one hundred million people. RT-PCR based molecular test is recommended as the gold standard method for diagnosing current infections. However, transportation and processing of the clinical sample for detecting virus require an expert operator and long processing time. Testing device enables on-site virus detection could reduce the sample-to-answer time, which plays a central role in containing the pandemic. In this work, we proposed an intelligent face mask, where a flexible immunosensor based on high density conductive nanowire array, a miniaturized impedance circuit, and wireless communication units were embedded. The sub-100 nm size and the gap between the neighbored nanowires facilitate the locking of nanoscale virus particles by the nanowire arrays and greatly improve the detection efficiency. Such a point-of-care (POC) system was demonstrated for coronavirus ‘spike’ protein and whole virus aerosol detection in simulated human breath. Detection of viral concentration as low as 7 pfu/mL from the atomized sample of coronavirus aerosol mimic was achieved in only 5 min. The POC systems can be readily applied for preliminary screening of coronavirus infections on-site and may help to understand the COVID-19 progression while a patient is under prescribed therapy.