Researchers at the University of Houston have created a high-performance heated air filter that is shown to trap and kill the coronavirus instantly.

Based on an idea by Medistar founder Monzer Hourani, the nickel foam air filter was designed by Dr. Zhifeng Ren, the director of the Texas Center of Superconductivity at the University of Houston.

The design was outlined in a paper published in Materials Today Physics. The filter is proving to be a game-changer in the fight against COVID-19.

“Let’s say 70 degrees. It may take 10-20 minutes to kill. If you go to 100, it will take a couple minutes. But if you go to 200, that will be instantaneous,” Dr. Ren explains from UH speaking to KHOU. “In a month and a half, we got the prototype, the testing done and the proven concept.”

“It filters the virus. It catches it. It kills it. Without impacting the temperature of the ambient air,” says Dr. Garrett K. Peel of Medistar. “What a great thing that this has come from Texas, the top minds of Texas have worked together in such a great way.”

The filter could help make offices and classrooms safer as children head back to school in the fall.

Medistar also hopes to introduce a desktop model, capable of purifying the air in an office worker’s immediate surroundings.

Peel hopes that this innovative filter will get the attention of state and national leaders.

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