A survey conducted by the British Medical Association found that half of doctors working in high risk environments do not have access to appropriate face masks. Also, the British Dental Association has lamented the typical UK dentist who can go through 250 face masks per week is now restricted to 100 no matter the practice size. A study by HSE and PHE on the use of PPE in health care settings published on the 27th of March recommended the use of FFP3 but if not available FFP2 and N95 masks can be used. However, there is no certified manufacturing of face masks in the UK and there is only one manufacturer of spunbond and meltblown nonwoven medical fabrics, a material used for FFP2/N95 disposable respirators. Pharm2Farm (Lead) and Flexotronix (subcontractor) aim to combine their leading nanotechnology capabilities to produce a highly enhanced anti-viral face mask to meet N95/FFP2 and FFP3 specifications.

Processes will be developed to produce a quantum dot based frequency modifying system for flexible light emitting sheets. New silicon based light emitting diodes will be developed with integral beam shaping and driving logic that will be integrated into a number of flexible substrates with emission spectra tailored to be compatible with the absorption curves of the quantum dots. Printed organic logic circuits will be developed in order to drive these flexible light emitting devices to allow them to be used in fast moving consumer goods, biophotonic medical devices and flexible light sources for temporary structures (tents or in disaster relief). The partners will build up a UK supply chain from the low cost production of quantum dots or phosphorescent nanophosphors, through the conventional printing of flexible substrates and growth of Si based LEDs/microelectronics to the medical and non-medical device manufacturing stakeholders. The partners are: Nano Products Ltd (NAN), PolyPhotonix Ltd(PPX), FlexEnable Ltd(FEN), Plessey Semiconductors Limited (PLS), M-Solv Ltd (MSV), Pharma2Farm Ltd(P2F) and Nottingham Trent University (NTU) who bring together expertise in development of inks, devices and end users to take the products to market.