New Development of Invisible and Anti-Bacterial Coating

To reduce the spread of infections on surfaces that are frequently touched, an innovative, thin cellulose fiber film that is “invisible to the naked eye” has been developed.

According to reports, researchers from the University of Birmingham School of Chemical Engineering, Cambridge University, and FiberLean Technologies created the coating under the direction of Professor Zhenyu Jason Zhang. Nucleic acids or structural proteins are the typical targets of chemical disinfectants or antiviral surface materials. According to the university, the researchers instead concentrated on drying out respiratory droplets that are contaminated with viruses due to capillary forces that the porous structure introduced.

According to the team, the film’s porous structure speeds up liquid droplet evaporation and introduces an unbalanced osmotic pressure across bacterial membranes.

According to the university, the film’s porous structure speeds up liquid droplet evaporation and introduces an unbalanced osmotic pressure across bacterial membranes.

The team examined the coating’s potential to prevent SARS-CoV-2 surface transmission. When the virus-containing droplets were kept on the coating for 5 minutes, the infectivity was found to be reduced by three times. According to reports, the infectivity vanished after 10 minutes. On the other hand, after 10 minutes, SARS-CoV-2 droplets’ initial infectivity was still present when they were left on a glass surface.

E.coli and S. epidermidis were two of the bacterium droplets used in the antimicrobial tests. The team saw significant drops in infectivity at 1 hour and 24 hours, according to the press release. The same tests were then conducted using fake saliva that was aerosolized. According to the investigation, the cellulose thin film is also successful at preventing the contact transfer of respiratory aerosols.

The team states that sustainable materials utilized in this surface coating technology could possibly be combined with other antimicrobial actives to provide a long-lasting and slow-release antibacterial effect.

The researchers also performed mechanical scraping experiments to further establish the coating’s resilience. According to the university, the coating appeared undamaged when it was dry but was easily peeled off the surface when wet.