Nanofibrous mats capable of naked-eye detection of hazards during filtration

Air filters are a daily part of our lives as the essential part of ventilation devices, such as the air condition in airplanes, buses, cars, offices, homes, and separators in factories, but also in personal protective equipment such as face masks or respirators. In the vast majority, they are only a passive sieve of filtration systems without any additional functionality, although, they process large volumes of gaseous samples. The idea of this project is to contribute to development of such filters, which will change their color according to the presence of a hazard. The naked-eye evaluation will enable to anyone the early warning on presence of environmental hazards (e.g., explosives, smog, harmful chemicals, bacteria, viruses), or a self-diagnosis of his or her health (e.g., detection of fever, diabetes, intoxication, infection). The concept is based on preparation of functionalized nanofibers by covalent or non-covalent attachment of compounds, which change color when a certain substance is present. Filters prepared from these nanofibers will be tested for the designed function.