Long-lasting disinfectant promises to help fight pandemics

Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a nanoparticle-based disinfectant that can continuously kill viruses over an area for up to seven days, a finding that could be a powerful weapon against COVID-19 and other emerging pathogenic viruses.

The findings, by a multidisciplinary team of virus and engineering experts from the university and the head of an Orlando tech company, were published this week in ACS Nano, a journal of the American Chemical Society.

Christina Drake, a UCF alumnus and founder of Kismet Technologies, was inspired to develop the sanitizer after taking a trip to the grocery store at the start of the pandemic. There, she saw a worker spraying disinfectant on a refrigerator handle, then immediately wiping off the spray.

“Initially, I was thinking of developing a quick-acting disinfectant,” she said, “but we talked to consumers – like doctors and dentists – to find out what they really want from a disinfectant. that mattered to them most was something long-lasting that would continue to sanitize high contact areas like doorknobs and floors long after application. ”

Drake partnered with Dr Sudipta Seal, UCF materials engineer and nanoscience expert, and Dr Griff Parks, college of medicine virologist who is also associate dean of research and director of the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. . With funding from the National Science Foundation, Kismet Tech, and the Florida High Tech Corridor, researchers created a disinfectant designed by nanoparticles.

Its active ingredient is an artificial nanostructure called cerium oxide, known for its regenerating antioxidant properties. Cerium oxide nanoparticles are modified with small amounts of silver to make them more potent against pathogens.

“It works both chemically and mechanically,” said Seal, who has studied nanotechnology for more than 20 years. “The nanoparticles emit electrons which oxidize the virus, rendering it inactive. Mechanically, they also attach to the virus and break the surface almost like popping a balloon.”

Most disinfectant wipes or sprays disinfect a surface within three to six minutes of application, but have no residual effect. This means that surfaces need to be wiped repeatedly to stay clean from a number of viruses like COVID-19. The nanoparticle formulation retains its ability to inactivate microbes and continues to disinfect a surface for up to seven days after a single application.

“The disinfectant showed tremendous antiviral activity against seven different viruses,” said Parks, whose lab was responsible for testing the formulation against “a dictionary” of viruses. “Not only has it shown antiviral properties against coronavirus and rhinovirus, but it has also been shown to be effective against a wide range of other viruses with different structures and complexities. We hope that with this incredible range of destruction capabilities, this disinfectant will also be an effective tool against other new emerging viruses.

Scientists are confident that the solution will have a major impact in healthcare facilities, especially in reducing the rate of nosocomial infections, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Clostridium difficile, which cause infections. that affect more than one in 30 patients admitted to US hospitals.

And unlike many commercial disinfectants, the formulation contains no harmful chemicals, indicating that it can be used safely on any surface. Regulatory testing for skin and eye cell irritation, as required by the US Environmental Protection Agency, did not show any harmful effects.

“Many household disinfectants currently available contain chemicals that can be harmful to the body on repeated exposure,” said Drake. “Our nanoparticle product will have a high safety rating and will play a major role in reducing overall chemical exposure for humans.”

More research is needed before the product can be brought to market, which is why the next phase of the study will examine the performance of the disinfectant outside the lab in real applications. This work will examine how the disinfectant is affected by external factors such as temperature or sunlight. The team is in talks with a local hospital network to test the product at their facilities.

“We are also exploring the development of a semi-permanent film to see if we can coat and seal a hospital floor or door handles, areas where you need to disinfect things and even with aggressive contact and persistent, ”Drake added.

Seal joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UCF, which is part of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at UCF, in 1997. He is appointed to the College of Medicine and is a member of the cluster prosthetic of UCF Biionix. He is the former director of the Nanoscience Technology Center and the Advanced Materials Processing Analysis Center at UCF. He received his doctorate in materials engineering with a minor in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley.

Parks arrived at UCF in 2014 after 20 years at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, where he was professor and chair of the department of microbiology and immunology. He received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and was a fellow of the American Cancer Society at Northwestern University.

The study was co-authored by post-doctoral researchers Candace Fox, UCF College of Medicine and Craig Neal, UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science and graduate students, Tamil Sakthivel, Udit Kumar and Yifei Fu from UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science. .