Intro Sentence:
UCLA researchers from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering have developed a novel antibacterial and antiviral spray-on coating.
Background:
Smart materials present an important method of protecting public health from emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), avian influenza, and Ebola. One of the major routes of disease transmission is from surface contamination. Existing methods of minimizing virus persistence time on surfaces include chemical sprays, light, and photo-responsive materials. These technologies suffer from low inactivation efficiencies and minimal sustainability, and often require daily application to maintain efficacy. There remains an unmet need for an efficient and sustainable method of microbe inactivation to prevent environmental transmission.
Innovation:
UCLA researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering have developed an antimicrobial coating to prevent environmental disease transmission. This innovative technology adopts sunlight-driven and polarization approaches to create a flexible spray-on coating with rapid and continuous antimicrobial properties. This coating consists of a colloidal suspension of nanoparticles that rapidly concentrates sunlight into heat at the microscale, producing the high temperatures necessary for microbe inactivation, but dissipates heat on the macroscale, resulting in a low perception temperature upon human contact. In tests with multiple pathogens, this coating demonstrated over 99.999% bactericidal and virucidal activity, and reduced persistence of SARS coronavirus 2 on surfaces from several days to down to 1.5 minutes. This coating is durable and reusable, allowing for long-term antimicrobial activity, and can be used in both outdoor and indoor settings.
Potential Applications:
Antimicrobial coatings can be used in:
• Public transportation
• Healthcare facilities
• Commercial and retail locations
Advantages:
• Continuous function
• Scalability
• High efficiency
• Rapid inactivation
• Durability and flexibility
Development-To-Date:
The first demonstration of the invention is complete
Reference:
UCLA Case No. 2021-247
Lead Inventor:
Yongjie Hu
Publication:
Nanoscale hyperthermia mesostructures for sustainable antimicrobial design