“Our tests indicate that these liquid-metal copper-coated fabrics demonstrate superior antimicrobial performance compared to other copper-coated surfaces and two commercial antimicrobial facemasks that rely on copper and silver respectively.”Vi Khanh Truong, RMIT University
An international team of researchers used liquid gallium to create an antiviral and antimicrobial coating and tested it on a range of fabrics, including facemasks. The coating adhered more strongly to fabric than some conventional metal coatings, and eradicated 99% of several common pathogens within five minutes.
“Microbes can survive on the fabrics hospitals use for bedding, clothing and face masks for a long time,” says Michael Dickey, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at North Carolina State University (NC State) and co-corresponding author of a paper on this work in Advanced Materials. “Metallic surface coatings such as copper or silver are an effective way to eradicate these pathogens, but many metal particle coating technologies have issues such as non-uniformity, processing complexity or poor adhesion.”
Together with colleagues from NC State, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) in Korea and RMIT University in Australia, Dickey set out to develop a simple, cost-effective way to deposit metal coatings on fabric. First, the researchers placed liquid gallium (Ga) into an ethanol solution and used sound waves – a process known as sonication – to form Ga nanoparticles. They spray-coated this nanoparticle solution onto the fabric, where the Ga adhered to the fibers as the ethanol evaporated.
They then dipped the Ga-coated fabric into a copper sulfate solution, creating a spontaneous galvanic replacement reaction. This reaction deposits copper onto the fabric, creating a coating of liquid metal copper alloy nanoparticles.
To test the coated fabric’s antimicrobial properties, the research team exposed it to three common microbes: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. These microbes grow aggressively on non-coated fabrics, but the copper-alloy-coated fabric eradicated over 99% of the pathogens within five minutes, making it significantly more effective than control samples coated with only copper.
The team collaborated with Elisa Crisci, assistant professor of virology at NC State, and Frank Scholle, associate professor of biological sciences at NC State, to show that the coatings also work against viruses. They tested the coatings against human influenza (H1N1) and coronavirus (HCoV 229E, which is in the same family as SARS-CoV-2). The coatings eradicated the viruses after five minutes.
“Our tests indicate that these liquid-metal copper-coated fabrics demonstrate superior antimicrobial performance compared to other copper-coated surfaces and two commercial antimicrobial facemasks that rely on copper and silver respectively,” says Vi Khanh Truong from RMIT University and co-corresponding author of the paper.
“This is a better method for generating metal coatings of fabrics, particularly for antimicrobial applications, both in terms of adhesion and antimicrobial performance,” says Ki Yoon Kwon, postdoctoral associate at SKKU and first author of the paper.
“It could also work with metals other than copper, such as silver,” adds Tae-il Kim, a professor at SKKU and co-corresponding author of the paper. “It is also a simple method, which should be relatively straightforward to scale up for mass production.”
This story is adapted from material from North Carolina State University, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier. Link to original source.