(ORDO NEWS) — The researchers found that with a certain surface texture, copper plating on metal can effectively destroy coronavirus particles.
Coronavirus, as already shown, can easily spread through various surfaces. As it turned out, the best way to destroy the virus particles is copper, and not silver, as previously thought.
As a result of corrosion, copper and silver release positively charged ions into the environment, which are harmful to bacteria: as a result of several mechanisms, the released ions prevent the growth of microorganisms or completely kill them.
This effect has long been exploited, for example, in the production of implants, which are coated to prevent bacterial infections. Scientists have now developed a way to amplify this effect and use it against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
How copper protects against covid
The authors of a new study have created a sputtering system that can be used to apply incredibly thin layers of virus-killing metal nanoparticles to the surface of any carrier metal.
Depending on the sequence or amount in which the individual metals are deposited, different surface textures are created. If a precious metal such as platinum is also used, the silver corrodes even faster and releases more antibacterial ions.
Scientists tested how effective such coatings would be against Staphylococcus aureus and SARS-CoV-2. In the first case, the researchers said, sacrificial anode surfaces, especially systems composed of silver and platinum, as well as a combination of silver and copper, effectively stopped the growth of bacteria.
In the case of SARS-CoV-2, thin layers of copper significantly reduced the viral load just one hour after the virus particles hit the metal surface. On the other hand, silver-sprayed surfaces had virtually no effect on the spread of the virus.
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