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Durable, washable textile coating can repel viruses: New research could lead to safely reusable PPE:
Research from the LAMP Lab at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering may have a solution. The lab has created a textile coating that can not only repel liquids like blood and saliva but can also prevent viruses from adhering to the surface. The work was recently published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
"Recently there's been focus on blood-repellent surfaces, and we were interested in achieving this with mechanical durability," said Anthony Galante, PhD student in industrial engineering at Pitt and lead author of the paper.
[...] What makes the coating unique is its ability to withstand ultrasonic washing, scrubbing and scraping.
[...] "The durability is very important because there are other surface treatments out there, but they're limited to disposable textiles. You can only use a gown or mask once before disposing of it," said Paul Leu, co-author and associate professor of industrial engineering, who leads the LAMP Lab. "Given the PPE shortage, there is a need for coatings that can be applied to reusable medical textiles that can be properly washed and sanitized."
Galante put the new coating to the test, running it through tens of ultrasonic washes, applying thousands of rotations with a scrubbing pad (not unlike what might be used to scour pots and pans), and even scraping it with a sharp razor blade. After each test, the coating remained just as effective.
[...] "As this fabric was already shown to repel blood, protein and bacteria, the logical next step was to determine whether it repels viruses. We chose human adenovirus types 4 and 7, as these are causes of acute respiratory disease as well as conjunctivitis (pink eye)," said Romanowski. [...] As it turned out, the adenoviruses were repelled in a similar way as proteins."
[...] The next step for the researchers will be to test the effectiveness against betacoronaviruses, like the one that causes COVID-19.
Journal Reference:
Anthony J. Galante, Sajad Haghanifar, Eric G. Romanowskiet al. Superhemophobic and Antivirofouling Coating for Mechanically Durable and Wash-Stable Medical Textiles. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2020; 12 (19): 22120 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b23058
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @12:45AM
They'll test whether it is effective against jihadis.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 15 2020, @01:57AM
Reply with your favs! Here's mine, simple and common:
8=======D
IT'S MY PENIS PARTY, WHO COULD ASK FOR MORE? EVERYBODY'S CUMMING LEAVE YOUR PENIS AT THE DOOR!
(Score: 3, Funny) by captain normal on Friday May 15 2020, @02:36AM (3 children)
"...repel liquids... prevent viruses...", but can air pass through?
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday May 15 2020, @02:06PM (2 children)
Special liquid repelling fabric, not plastic bag over your head.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday May 15 2020, @05:51PM (1 child)
There is special liquid repelling fabric in my sailing jacket and foul weather gear, but you can't breath through it. "Each SARS-CoV-2 virion is 50–200 nanometres in diameter."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2 [wikipedia.org]
If you are paying attention to semiconductor fabrication you know how small that is. A tight weave fabric that blocks 200nm particles seems to me going to be very hard to breath through.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday May 20 2020, @02:41PM
Ahh..., I was thinking with regards to it being used for things that aren't a face mask, but I missed that in the article.
Still, the issue isn't the size of the "SARS-CoV-2 virion", it's the size of the matter that the virus is hitching a ride on. Thus, you're not trying to protect against the tiny size of the virus, you're trying to protect against the size of whatever it's hitched to. Whether that's a spray of blood, a spray of spittle, or other vectors of transmission.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by ilPapa on Friday May 15 2020, @03:35AM (1 child)
You think they can make and orange fright wig out of this virus-repellent material? Asking for a bloated, degenerate friend.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday May 15 2020, @05:13PM
If only it could repel viruses and attract intelligence.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Friday May 15 2020, @06:34AM
Proof that even Viruses are repelled by Linux!
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!