Masks have become the new fashion statement of choice, with everyone from celebrities to schoolchildren sporting them. But you don’t need to stick with the plain, grey ones that come in packs of 10. Bling out your face mask with lines of stick-on gems arranged to look like spiderwebs or even kitty cat whiskers. It’s a fun activity to do on your own or with a group of friends. Older kids may want to add a tiara and a crown, while teenagers might like to decorate their mask with the face of a horror movie character.
With CDC’s announcement that fully vaccinated people can largely ditch the mask and return to normal activities, it’s easy to forget that the pandemic is still ongoing. And while the latest research is encouraging, experts are warning that it’s not yet safe to reintroduce public life.
To explore the potential of single-use surgical face masks as dye carriers in aquatic systems, batch-type equilibrium experiments were performed. The parameters investigated were the initial concentration of the dyes, temperature and contact time. Sorption isotherms were evaluated using the Langmuir and Freundlich models. It was found that the MG, CV and to a lesser degree the MB dyes can be adsorbed from solution to the mask at ambient conditions. The thermal treatment of the mask results in the production of carbonaceous material that presents high sorption capacity for both CV and MG dyes. This indicates a possibility for used mask disinfection and recycling.