COVID-19 has caused the entire world to go into an unprecedented level of voluntary and involuntary isolation affecting mobility, health, and economic stability. One critical, under-researched aspect is preventing the spread of the virus through exposure to contaminated surfaces, which can remain contaminated with active virus for several days. This project will lead to a new plant-based nanomaterial coating to protect frequently contacted surfaces from contamination. Specifically, this project will evaluate the effectiveness of attaching different anti-viral chemicals on the plant-based nanomaterials and testing whether they are effective in treating viruses including COVID-19. At the end of this one-year project, it is expected that there will be a sprayable surface coating that destroys viruses rapidly and thereby prevents the spread of diseases.
The coating will be made from Oxone® modified cellulose nanoparticles incorporating active chemistries made specifically for destroying viruses. The researchers on this team have shown that they can use click chemistry on cellulose surfaces which basically allow for any group to be attached. All of the chemistries that will be studied have been approved for decontamination by the Center for Disease Control so approval of this new technology for widespread use could be rapid. Preliminary work has shown that the coatings can be made in thin layers of around 4 microns with at least 10 different chemistries bound covalently with anti-bacterial properties to prevent bacterial growth. In addition, the coating hydrophilicity can be tuned using a hydrophobic wax and is also resilient enough to withstand at least 40 touches when applied to a metallic surface before requiring reapplication. These preliminary studies indicate that the new coating with chemistries for virus destruction could be used for COVID-19 as well as a general anti-viral and anti-bacterial coating for surfaces in the future. Specifically, this project will evaluate the effectiveness of attaching different anti-viral groups in deactivating a model virus using RT-PCR and determine the durability of varying coating hydrophobicity on its adhesion to three model surfaces (glass, metal, and plastic). The properties of the cellulose nanomaterial on virus destruction and adhesion will also be studied. At the end of this one-year project, it is expected that there will be a sprayable surface coating that destroys viruses rapidly and thereby prevents the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. As part of this project one graduate student and one post-doctoral student will be educated. This spray-technology could also be used for making membranes and new types of packaging materials that could significantly increase the use of renewable cellulose. Finally, if successful, this project could be widespread because it could be one of the only known ways to have continuous long-term treatment of a surface that destroys COVID-19 and other viruses. . One graduate student and one post-doctoral student will be educated as part of this project. But the most exciting part of this project is the fact that the involved students will have a profound and positive impact on the world. In a functioning society, people must go out in the public to high traffic areas such as grocery stores, hospitals, nursing homes, post offices, etc. This spray could be used to prevent the spread of COVID-19 from all those doorknobs and handles.
This project is jointly funded by the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
