A commercially available polymer has been found to have remarkable antibacterial and antiviral properties by researchers in the US. The material kills microbes by dramatically lowering the pH of the local environment and is even effective against drug resistant pathogens. After recent outbreaks of superbugs like MRSA, antimicrobial coatings have gained increasing attention as a potential way to sterilise surfaces and stop the transmission of pathogens.
A team of researchers, led by Richard Spontak and Reza Ghiladi at North Carolina State University, has now discovered, a polymer used for water treatment and high performance breathable clothing, could act as an antimicrobial surface. ‘Other materials that have been developed for this purpose work on a very traditional belief that [the material] should be the opposite charge to the membrane of the microbe,’ explains Spontak. In contrast –…
