Copper Nanostructured biohybrid material as broad-spectrum antiviral agent and its application as coating surface material

Abstract

Abstract Respiratory pathogens kill more people than any other infectious agent each year worldwide. The development of novel economically-friendly, sustainable and highly efficient materials against viruses is a major challenge. Here we describe a nanostructured material composed of very small crystalline phosphate copper nanoparticles synthesized based on a new biohybrid technology that employs the use of a biological agent for its formation. This aqueous and room temperature stable material showed high virucidal activity against different viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. In addition, this new material has been successfully scaled-up and has been shown to have multiple applications as a coating agent on different surfaces of different composition (cotton, polyester, cellulose, paint, etc.). Interestingly, this nanomaterial showed antimicrobial-properties for the manufacture of antiviral face masks, maintaining high virucidal efficacy and stability, even after several washing cycles allowing its reuse.