Aerosol made with copper nanowires could have antimicrobial properties

For a long time, copper has been used in the manufacture of objects that are constantly touched by people, such as doorknobs; this due to the property that this material possesses to kill viruses and bacteria.

Taking this into account, a team of scientists took on the task of creating a nanowire spray coppermade with which people could have the opportunity to cover existing surfaces with this material.

In this sense, the project is being developed jointly between the Ames National Laboratory of the United States Department of Energy, the State University of Iowa and the University of Buffalo.

It’s worth mentioning that the spray grew out of earlier research by Ames, which created a copper ink that could be used to print circuits on flexible electronic devices.

As for the copper spray, the scientists consider two typeswhich present points for and against their implementation.

The first incorporates pure copper nanowire segments which is about 60 nanometers wide; the second is made of copper and zinc nanowires the same size.

Also, it has been used water or ethanol as a carrier solution where the threads are suspended.

Once the aerosol is sprayed on a surface made of plastic, glass or stainless steel and dried at room temperature a thin antimicrobial coating is formed.

On the other hand, a test was carried out in which an attempt was made to kill the virus of the SARS-CoV-2 cause of COVID-19.

The results showed that the spray-coated copper discs were equally effective as those without the coating. However, because the nanowires offered a greater margin of surface to cover, they managed to remove the virus in just 20 minutesunlike the normal album that did it in 40 minutes.

However, the copper-zinc coating remained exerting its action for much longer, thus reducing the frequency of application. This makes scientists consider this option as the most appropriate.