A scientific collaboration including the companies Nanox, AplFilm, Braskem and the UFSCar (Brazil) and Jaume I of Castellón (Spain) universities has presented a plastic film which they claim has the potential to deactivate 99.99% of the novel coronavirus in just 15 minutes. This product, AlpFilm Protect PVC, is already available commercially.
The transparentt PVC film including silver microparticles has now formed the basis of the technology patented by Nanox with the assistance of the Vinyl Application Engineering team of AlpFilm and Braskem.
Silica is a semiconductor that turns active in the presence of metallic silver to produce highly oxidative molecules with the ability to deactivate 79.9% of the novel coronavirus in 3 minutes and 99.99% in just a matter of 15 minutes.
The product is already available commercially and commonly used for packing food items like vegetables, fruit, meat and cold meats. Now it can be used to safeguard surfaces.
As reported on azom.com¸ the technology that has been developed by Nanox, managed by doctor Gustavo Simões, received support from the Innovative Research Programme for Small Companies (PIPE) of the FAPESP, and the scientific guidance of professor Elson Longo from the Centre for the Development of Functional Materials (CDMF), the Federal University of São Carlos and professor Juan Andrés Bort, head of the Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry from the Jaume I University of Castellón.
Photo source: AlpFilm