A Pune-based startup has created a 3D printed mask that not only prevents the coronavirus from infecting the wearer, but also attacks the virus when it comes into contact with it. The mask is coated with antiviral virucides that kill coronavirus. The 3D-printed mask was tested and found to be effective in deactivating SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The coating can be applied to any type of mask, including N-95, 2-ply, and cloth-mask masks.

When the government was looking for solutions to combat the spread of Covid-19 in May 2020, the masks were chosen as one of six technologies to be funded. The Technology Development Board, a central government body that promotes indigenous technology, funded the project.

Thincr Technologies India Private Limited, which works at the intersection of 3D printing and pharmaceuticals, received assistance from the Mumbai-based office of a multinational pharmaceutical company Merck Life Sciences and used their research facility.

The coating formula was created by the company and was used to coat the fabric layer. They used 3D printing to ensure that the coating was done consistently. The coating material used by the company is a Sodium Olefin Sulfonate-based mixture. It destroys the virus's outer membrane when it comes into contact with it, rendering it inactive.

Shitalkumar Zambad, founder and director of Thincr Technologies said that the masks have a bacterial efficiency of more than 95%. “In this project, we used 3D printers for the first time to make multilayer cloth filters to precisely fit for plastic-moulded or 3D-printed mask covers,” Zambad said in a press release issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The company has filed for a patent, and the masks are already being manufactured. 6000 masks of this type have already been distributed to healthcare workers in four government hospitals in Nandurbar, Nashik, and Bengaluru. A Bengaluru girls' school and college are also among the first to receive the newly developed masks.

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