Futuristic coating for hospital fabrics and activewear kills COVID virus
and E. coli

Date:
February 10, 2022
Source:
University of British Columbia
Summary:
Researchers have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic coating for
almost any fabric that decreases the infectivity of the virus
that causes COVID- 19 by up to 90 per cent. And in the future,
you might be able to spray it on fabric yourself.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
UBC researchers have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic coating for
almost any fabric that decreases the infectivity of the virus that causes COVID-19 by up to 90 per cent.


==========================================================================
And in the future, you might be able to spray it on fabric yourself.

"When you're walking into a hospital, you want to know that pillow
you're putting your head onto is clean," says lead author Taylor Wright,
a doctoral student in the department of chemistry. "This coating could
take a little bit of the worry off frontline workers to have Personal Protection Equipment with antimicrobial properties." Researchers soaked
fabric in a solution of a bacteria-killing polymer which contains a
molecule that releases sterilizing forms of oxygen when light shines on
it. They then used an ultraviolet (UV) light to turn this solution to a
solid, fixing the coating to the fabric. "This coating has both passive
and active antimicrobial properties, killing microbes immediately upon
contact, which is then amped up when sunlight hits the cloth," says
senior author Dr.

Michael Wolf (he/him), a professor of chemistry.

Both components are safe for human use, and the entire process takes
about one hour at room temperature, says Wright. It also makes the fabric hydrophobic, meaning microbes are less likely to stick to the cloth,
and doesn't seem to affect the strength of the fabric.

In addition, the coating can be used on almost any fabric, including
cotton, polyester, denim, and silk, with applications in hospital
fabrics, masks, and activewear. Whereas other such technologies can
involve chemical waste, high energy use, or expensive equipment, the
UBC method is relatively easy and affordable, says Wright. "All we need
is a beaker and a light bulb. I'm fairly certain I could do the whole
process on a stove." To test the coating's bug-killing properties,
the researchers bathed treated fabric in bacterial soups of Escherichia
coli (E. coli)andMethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA),
both major sources of hospital-acquired infections. They found there
were 85 per cent of viable E. coli bacteria remaining after 30 minutes,
which fell to three per cent when the treated cloth was exposed to green
light for the same amount of time. Similarly, 95 per cent of viable
MRSA bacteria remained, dropping to 35 per cent under green light. No
bacteria remained after four hours.



========================================================================== Given that sunlight or fluorescent lights have a lesser percentage
of green, the team expects similar but less intense results for fabric
exposed to those light sources, says Wright. "Particularly in the Pacific Northwest, it's not always a sunny day. So, at all times you're going
to have that layer of passive protection and when you need that extra
layer of protection, you can step into a lit room, or place the fabric
in a room with a green light bulb -- which can be found for about $35
online." The researchers also looked into whether the coating reduced
the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19 by bathing
treated fabric in a solution of the virus particles and then adding that solution to living cells to see if they could infect them. They found
the passive properties weren't effective against the virus, but when
treated fabric was exposed to green light for two hours, there was up
to 90 per cent decrease in the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2.

"In other words, only one tenth of the amount of virus signal was
detected on cells infected with the UV-fabric and light treated virus,"
says co-author Dr.

Franc,ois Jean (he/him), professor of virology at UBC. The efficacy of
the new fabric against SARS-CoV-2 was demonstrated by Dr. Jean's team
at UBC FINDER, the state-of-the-art level three biocontainment facility
founded by Dr. Jean in 2010.

The team found they needed an 18 square centimeter piece of fabric to kill microbes with material containing seven per cent weight of the active ingredient, but that increasing this to 23 per cent weight increased
the effectiveness of the fabric at four times less material, says Wright.

Researchers also found that keeping the fabric under green light for
more than 24 hours failed to produce the sterilizing forms of oxygen, highlighting an area for further study. This is a similar effect to the
color fading on clothing after being exposed to sunlight for too long.

"Biomanufacturing face masks based on this new UBC technology would
represent an important addition to our arsenal in the fight against
COVID-19, in particular for highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants of
concern such as Omicron," says Dr. Jean. The coating can also be used for activewear, with an 'anti-stink' coating applied to areas where people
tend to sweat, killing off the bacteria that makes us smell. Indeed,
hospital fabric and activewear companies are already interested in
applying the technology, and the university has applied for a patent in
the United States, says Dr. Wolf.

The study was published in American Chemical Society Applied Materials
& Interfaces.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_British_Columbia. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Taylor Wright, Marli Vlok, Tirosh Shapira, Andrea D. Olmstead,
Franc,ois
Jean, Michael O. Wolf. Photodynamic and Contact Killing Polymeric
Fabric Coating for Bacteria and SARS-CoV-2. ACS Applied Materials &
Interfaces, 2022; 14 (1): 49 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c14178 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220210114123.htm

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