Can activated carbon mask filter virus?

Activated charcoal and regular charcoal are almost identical. Activated charcoal is produced by heating it with a gas that causes the charcoal to expand and create a porous surface that enables to trap and block the toxins. 

The activated charcoal only works by binding the chemicals to other substances to its surface and then it can absorb thousands of times its weight. It has an incredibly large surface area due to its pores. A cubic inch of charcoal has the surface area equivalent to a 150,000 square-foot field.

That’s how extensive and broad its absorption capacity is.

Yes, an activated carbon mask can filter the virus. A mask that has activated carbon is designed to function to help protect against toxic pollutants and most especially characteristics of gas not absorbed or filtered by ordinary masks.

A combination mask with activated carbon along with spunbond and melt-blown fabric layers found in 3-4 ply surgical masks not only filter out air pollution or gases but also against viruses and bacterial droplets.

Another mask combination is an N95 mask with activated charcoal that can filter viruses, bacteria, and dust up to 95%.

Each carbon filter is typically given a micron rating that specifies the size of the particle which the filter can block.

Typical particle sizes that can be removed by carbon filters range from 0.5-50 micrometers. The efficacy of a carbon filter depends not only on its particle size but also on the rate of flow of fluid or dust through the filter.

If fluid or dust is to flow through the filter at a slower rate, the contaminants will be exposed to the filter media for a longer amount of time, which will tend to be blocked better.

An activated carbon mask can capture even the tiny particles. There are a lot of masks available on Amazon with the activated carbon filter in them.