Fight against COVID-19: The case of antiviral surfaces

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is the largest global public health outbreak in the 21st century so far. Based on World Health Organization reports, the main source of SARS-CoV-2 infection is transmission of droplets released when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or exhales. Viral particles can remain in the air and on the surfaces for a long time. These droplets are too heavy to float in air and rapidly fall down onto the surfaces. To minimize the risk of the infection, entire surrounding environment should be disinfected or neutralized regularly. Development of the antiviral coating for the surface of objects that are frequently used by the public could be a practical route to prevent the spread of the viral particles and inactivation of the transmission of the viruses. In this short review, the design of the antiviral coating to combat the spread of different viruses has been discussed and the technological attempts for minimizing the coronavirus outbreak have been highlighted.

FIG. 1.

(a) Chronological description of some recent global pandemics [data obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO)]. (b) Schematic representation of the mode of spread from an infected person to a healthy person.

FIG. 2.

(a)–(c) Different types of antiviral coatings and [(d)–(f)] their mechanisms of action: Reprinted with permission from Z. Sun and K. Ostrikov, Sustainable Mater. Technol. 25, e00203 (2020). Copyright 2020 Elsevier.

FIG. 3.

(a) Key steps in the virus replication cycle that provide antiviral targets. (b) Mechanism of blocking virus entry into host cells.

FIG. 4.

(a) Photocatalytic activities of HAp/TiO₂ composite thin films (i) and the plot of time vs C/C_o. (b) Schematic diagram of photocatalytic activities of HAp/TiO₂ composite thin films: a—4 dip, b—6 dip, and c—8 dip. (c) Schematic representation of the SiO₂–TiO₂ membranes surface. (d) Confirmation of the self-cleaning activity of these membranes under UV illumination for 50 min (i), (ii) antibacterial activity of the BC–SiO₂–TiO₂ (red dotted circle at the bottom) and SiO₂–TiO₂/Ag nanocomposites against Kluyvera (gram-negative, red dotted circle at the top), and (iii) schematic representation of the UV-induced disinfection of the used membrane.

FIG. 5.

Antiviral activity of curcumin derived carbon dot nanoparticles: Reprinted with permission from Ting et al., ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 1(10), 5451–5459 (2018). Copyright 2018 American Chemical Society.

FIG. 6.

(a) The SEM micrograph of ZnONT. (b) The TEM images of ZnONT (500 ALD cycles, calculated at 450 °C) at different magnifications. [(c)–(e)] ZnONT wall thickness histogram. Reprinted with permission from López de Dicastillo et al., Nanomaterials 10(3), 503 (2020). Copyright 2020 MDPI.

FIG. 7.

(a)–(d) The capture of the coronavirus family on the surface of GAGs.

FIG. 8.

(a) Laser-fabricated graphene mask. (b) SEM of the graphene-coated nonwoven fiber within the surgical mask [(c) and (d)] Raman spectrum and water contact angle of the graphene-coated mask. (e) Illustration of the self-cleaning properties compared to the pristine blue mask (left). Photothermal performance of the masks. (f) Optical absorption. (g) Surface temperature measured by using infrared camera (h) and (i) after 5 min of solar illumination. Reprinted with permission from Zhong et al., ACS Nano 14(5), 6213–6221 (2020). Copyright 2020 American Chemical Society.