Transmission of pathogens via respiratory droplets can spread infections such as COVID‐19. Wearing a mask hinders the spread of COVID‐19 infection and has become mandatory in some cases. Although most masks are affordable and disposable, continual daily replacement is required due to their performance deterioration caused by washing and contamination. Hence, a urethane‐reactive coating material comprising perfluoro‐tert‐butanol‐hexamethylene diisocyanate is developed with highly hydrophobic and oleophobic properties to functionalize a polyurethane‐coated fabric to bestow high breathability, durability, reusability, and protection ability. Its functions are maintained after scratch and wash testing, and its air permeability and water vapor transmittance rate (necessary for respiration) are unaffected. Its filtration efficiency of water droplets containing 100 nm polystyrene particles (similar in size to SARS‐CoV‐2) is increased due to its highly hydrophobic properties. In addition, it inhibits the adsorption of bovine serum albumin, the spike protein of COVID‐19, and Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
By utilizing a hydrothermal method, V 2 O 5 crystalline powder of nanosized beam shape-termed nanobeam V 2 O 5 -was synthesized from a V 2 O 5 xerogel. Then, using an electrochemical polymerization method, a composite film of nanobeam V 2 O 5 embedded in a conductive polypyrrole-termed electrochemically embedded V 2 O 5 /polypyrrole ͑ee-V 2 O 5 /PPy͒-was grown on anodes from an electrolyte solution containing pyrrole and dispersed nanobeam V 2 O 5 . Due to the oxidative catalytic action of V 2 O 5 for the polymerization of pyrrole, a thorough polypyrrole coating simultaneously grew on all the nanobeam V 2 O 5 particles. Both electrochemically and catalytically polymerized polypyrrole can embed and connect the isolated nanobeam V 2 O 5 particles, providing mechanical flexibility during the expanding/shrinking cycles of discharge/charge. The cathode film with 2.6 mg loading of ee-V 2 O 5 /PPy had a specific capacity of 294 mAh g −1 at 0.1 C, which is 99.6% of the theoretical capacity for 2 equiv. of Li intercalation, and had a specific capacity of 195 mAh g −1 at 5 C. With 6.4 mg of loading, the system revealed superior cyclic stability, with a degradation rate of 2.1% and a specific capacity of 176 mAh g −1 , after 40 battery cycles at the rate of 1 C. The ee-V 2 O 5 /PPy cathode performed excellently in terms of both cyclic stability and specific capacity.
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