Liquid Metal Coating Creates Antimicrobial Fabric

Liquid Metal Coating Creates Effective Antiviral, Antimicrobial Fabric

An international team of researchers used liquid gallium to create an antiviral and antimicrobial coating and tested it on a range of fabrics, including face masks. The coating adhered to the fabric more strongly than some traditional metal coatings and eliminated 99% of several common pathogens within five minutes. Michael Dickey, one of the authors of the paper on the study and Camille & Henry Dreyfus Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University, said: "Microbes can survive for long periods on fabrics that hospitals use for bed linens, clothing and face masks." "Metallic surface coatings such as copper or silver are an effective way to eliminate these pathogens, but many metal particle coating technologies have problems such as lack of uniformity, processing complexity or poor adhesion." Dickey and colleagues from North Carolina State, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) in Korea, and RMIT University in Australia set out to develop a simple and cost-effective way to apply metal coatings to fabric. First, the researchers placed liquid gallium (Ga) in an ethanol solution and used sound waves (a process known as sonication) to create Ga nanoparticles. The nanoparticle solution was then spray-coated onto the fabric and adhered to the fibers as the ethanol evaporated. The researchers then dipped the Ga-coated fabric into a copper sulfate solution, creating a spontaneous galvanic replacement reaction. The reaction deposits copper onto the fabric, creating a coating consisting of liquid metal copper alloy nanoparticles. To test the antimicrobial properties of the coated fabric, the research team exposed the fabric to three common microbes: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. These microbes grow aggressively on uncoated fabric. The copper alloy-coated fabric eliminated more than 99% of the pathogens within five minutes, which was significantly more effective than control samples coated with copper alone. The team collaborated with virology assistant professor Elisa Crisci at NC State and biological sciences associate professor Frank Scholle at NC State to demonstrate that the coatings also worked against viruses. The coatings were tested against human influenza (H1N1) and coronavirus (HCoV 229E, from the same family as SARS-CoV-2). The coatings eliminated the viruses after five minutes. Vi Khanh Truong, postdoctoral researcher and visiting Fulbright researcher at RMIT University and co-author of the study, said: "Our tests show that these liquid metal-copper coated fabrics demonstrate superior antimicrobial performance compared to other copper-coated surfaces and two commercial antimicrobial face masks based on copper and silver, respectively." Ki Yoon Kwon, postdoctoral researcher at SKKU and first author of the study, argued: "This is a better method for creating metal coatings on fabrics specifically for antimicrobial applications in terms of both adhesion and antimicrobial performance." Tae-il Kim, co-author of the research and professor at SKKU, added: "We can also work with metals other than copper, such as silver. At the same time, it is a relatively simple method to scale up for serial production." The research appears in Advanced Materials and is supported by the Korean National Research Foundation. Samuel Cheeseman, a visiting Fulbright researcher from RMIT University, also contributed to the work.

Source:

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-liquid-metal-coating-effectiveantiviral.html Provided by North Carolina State University. Ki Yoon Kwon et al, A Liquid Metal Mediated Metallic Coating for Antimicrobial and Antiviral Fabrics, Advanced Materials (2021). DOI: 10.1002/adma.202104298 Journal information: Advanced Materials