Fight against COVID-19: The case of antiviral surfaces

Kamyar Shirvanimoghaddam; Mohammad Karbalaei Akbari; Ram Yadav; Adil K Al-Tamimi; Minoo Naebe

doi:10.1063/5.0043009

Fight against COVID-19: The case of antiviral surfaces

APL Mater. 2021 Mar 1;9(3):031112. doi: 10.1063/5.0043009.

Authors

Kamyar Shirvanimoghaddam¹, Mohammad Karbalaei Akbari², Ram Yadav¹, Adil K Al-Tamimi³, Minoo Naebe¹

Affiliations

¹ Carbon Nexus, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
² Faculty of Science, Department of Solid State Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
³ Civil Engineering Department, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is the largest global public health outbreak in the 21st century so far. Based on World Health Organization reports, the main source of SARS-CoV-2 infection is transmission of droplets released when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or exhales. Viral particles can remain in the air and on the surfaces for a long time. These droplets are too heavy to float in air and rapidly fall down onto the surfaces. To minimize the risk of the infection, entire surrounding environment should be disinfected or neutralized regularly. Development of the antiviral coating for the surface of objects that are frequently used by the public could be a practical route to prevent the spread of the viral particles and inactivation of the transmission of the viruses. In this short review, the design of the antiviral coating to combat the spread of different viruses has been discussed and the technological attempts for minimizing the coronavirus outbreak have been highlighted.