COVID-19 pandemic taught us to pay more attention to disinfection. For that we use various solutions, such as alcohol. But what if some surfaces disinfected themselves? Copper can do that and, according to a new study from the University of Waterloo a very thin copper-containing coating can do the trick.
Back in antiquity people knew that copper was special. They’ve noticed that eating from copper dishes reduces the risk of diarrhoea. They didn’t know the mechanism thousands of years ago, but it is because copper kills bacteria and viruses that touch it. They pretty much explode on contact. We can’t make everything out of copper, but maybe a thin copper-containing coating would do the job?
Scientists have been testing various metallic coatings since the beginning of the global pandemic. They sprayed some antibacterial and antiviral coatings on glass and N95 face masks and then put these test objects into viral solutions. Then researchers collected viruses from those coatings and checked their livelihood. Copper-containing coatings turned out to be the most effective at killing HCov-229E – coronavirus that is genetically like SARS-CoV-2 (just safer to work with).
And a very thin coating is providing significant protection from viruses. In fact, coating used in this study was 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. Also, flakes of copper or copper compounds separated from the surface and killed some viruses in the solution itself. Nothing works as efficiently as copper in this regard and scientists think that coatings like that could be used to enhance the protection of medical masks and make surfaces in hospitals much cleaner.
Louis Delumeau, lead author of the study, said: “Not only would a mask that covers the nose and mouth greatly limit the transmission of the virus but adding a coating such as the one we developed could actually kill the virus rapidly and reduce the amount of virus spread”.
But why does copper kill viruses? Well, if you looked very closely at an atom of copper, you would notice a free electron floating at the outer shell. This electron makes copper eager to participate in oxygen reduction reactions, which in case of viruses explode them on contact. The same feature makes copper a great conductor of heat and electricity.
Maybe sometime soon this coating will be used to protect commonly touched surfaces in public places, hospitals, and laboratories. Copper can also improve the effectiveness of masks. It is cool to know that these great features of copper were known to people back in the ancient times.
Source: University of Waterloo
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