BUZZ Fam, face masks are going to be around for a while, and people are becoming more innovative with them.

A team of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US has designed a battery-powered face mask. So here’s how this works; The mask would have a hot metal filter surrounded by insulating neoprene to allow it to be worn. It would kill coronavirus particles by passing the air you breathe through a fine copper mesh heated to 194°F (90°C).

The ‘heat mask’ would be ideal for situations where the risk of viral exposure was high such as in a healthcare setting, or on crowded public transport.

And the best thing about this mask is that it would not need to be sterilised after being used.

But if commercialised, the battery-powered device would likely be more expensive than a cloth mask, surgical mask, or an N95 respirator, the researchers said.

The researchers have filed for a patent on the mask design have begun to construct prototypes on which to run physical tests.