Medical
Anti-microbial, Easy to clean Coatings on Glass, Metals, Plastics and Fibres
Overview
Contamination of walls, floors and surfaces of many articles that we use in day-to-day life is the main reason for disease to spread rapidly. Hence, ensuring that these surfaces are free of microbial contamination, especially in hospitals, is an important factor in maintaining the general health of people. Silver in the form of metallic silver or silver salts is known to be toxic to micro-organism, particularly bacteria while being relatively harmless to a man. When nano scaled silver is introduced to a hybrid sol-gel matrix, it results in an antimicrobial coating due to the silver nanoparticles and scratch resistant due to the inorganic network of sol-gel coatings providing high degree of abrasion resistance too. This helps in retarding the growth of microbes and thus minimizes the use of autoclaving process or cleaning using harsh chemicals. Other functionalities such as easy-to-clean property can also be incorporated into the coatings.
Key Features
- Incorporation of anti-microbial nanoparticles, controlled release mechanism
- Easy-to-clean coatings have surface properties comparable to perfluorinated polymers (hydrophobic surface)
- Non-toxic
- Easy to scale up for large area coatings
Potential Applications
- Medicine bottles/containers
- Hospital wall panels, hospital furniture
- Hearing aids
- Food packaging
- Textile walls and textile roofs, sun shades, blinds
- As top coats on wall paints
- Anti-fouling coatings on marine floating objects
Intellectual Property Development Indices (IPDI) 
- Performance and stability validated at laboratory scale
| Status | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Major Patents / Publications
Major Patents
- R. Subasri, H. Hima, Investigations on the use of nanoclay for generation of superhydrophobic coatings, Surface & Coatings Technology, 264 (2015) 121– 126.
- K. Jeevajothi, R. Subasri, K.R.C. Soma Raju (2013): Transparent, Non-fluorinated, Hydrophobic Silica Coatings with Improved Mechanical Properties, Ceramics International, 39, 2111-2116.
- R. Dineshram, R. Subasri, K.R.C. Somaraju, K. Jayaraj, L. Vedaprakash, Krupa Ratnam, S.V. Joshi, R. Venkatesan, Biofouling studies on nanoparticle-based metal oxide coatings on glass coupons exposed to marine environment, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 74 (2009) 75–83
Self-disinfecting Nanoparticle Coated Face Masks for Combating COVID-19
Overview
Masks are playing a major role as personal protective equipment needed to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Ag-Cu/CuO nanoparticles have been coated on fabrics by two different processes including nano-suspension coatings using nanopowders synthesized by Flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) and electroless coating process. Prototype masks are prepared for demonstration as shown in figure 1(a). Very uniform coatings have been achieved on the fabric by both processes (Figure 1 (b)). The nanoparticles coated fabrics are tested for their antibacterial efficacy using ASTM E2315 (99.7% disinfection of bacteria in 30 seconds) as shown in Figure (c) and anti-viral (SARS CoV-2) efficacy. The nanoparticles coated fabrics are found to exhibit anti-bacterial properties even after 30 washes and anti-viral properties showed more than 75% efficacy compared to uncoated fabric.
Key Features
- Scalable process
- Antibacterial efficacy : 99.7 % in 30 sec
- Anti-viral (SARS CoV-2 efficacy : ) > 75% compared to uncoated fabric
- Cost effective
Potential Applications
- Self-disinfection mask
- Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Hospital textiles
Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
- Scale-up to pilot scale
- Validated for antibacterial and antiviral efficacy
Intellectual Property Development Indices (IPDI)
| Status | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Major Patents / Publications
Major Patents
Major Publications
Indian patent draft under preparation
