Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SUPREME (SUstainable nanoPaRticles Enabled antiMicrobial surfacE coatings)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-01-01 bis 2024-06-30
As a side effect of globalisation, disease outbreaks can spread rapidly and easily cross borders and continents, having a catastrophic impact on health, society, and economy globally, which requires appropriate and effective measures to contain the spread of any deadly infection. The COVID-19 pandemic have culminated the attention towards the spread of harmful pathogens, which is often facilitated by high traffic surfaces. In response, surfaces and coatings that are capable of minimizing the presence of active viral pathogens, or other pathogens such as microbes and fungi – especially if applied in certain settings such as objects in public places, public transport, hospitals, public buildings, schools and various businesses – offer a great potential to reduce human exposure and mitigate the spread of infectious pathogens. Therefore, developing antimicrobial surface coatings, either minimising the surface adhesion of pathogens, introducing antimicrobial actions, or a synergistic effect, has emerged as a major global strategy to fight the spread of disease outbreaks.
Nanoparticle (NP) filled coatings, with recognised effectiveness against bacteria, viruses, and fungi, are valuable candidates for developing antimicrobial surface and minimising the surface adhesion of pathogens. However, due to the many technical challenges, including difficulty to develop nanocoatings with a long-term antimicrobial capability, durability under real conditions and safety assurance, their application at industrial level is still limited.
Nanoparticle (NP) filled coatings, with recognised effectiveness against bacteria, viruses, and fungi, are valuable candidates for developing antimicrobial surface and minimising the surface adhesion of pathogens. However, due to the many technical challenges, including difficulty to develop nanocoatings with a long-term antimicrobial capability, durability under real conditions and safety assurance, their application at industrial level is still limited.
The SUPREME consortium will develop a platform of efficient and multifunctional antimicrobial nanocoatings, building upon bespoke TiO2 nanoparticles that have demonstrated exceptional antimicrobial ability at lab scale. Two sustainable routes: 1) customised core/shell and advanced functional nanoparticles and 2) hybrid fibre-nanoparticles (using sustainable bio-based cellulose materials and nanoparticles) will be pursued. Bearing in mind the specific requirements of individual applications, the SUPREME consortium will implement consistent conditions for antimicrobial testings to maximise its effectiveness against a wide range of pathogens. The production of the SUPREME coatings will follow a sustainable-by-design approach that considers both toxicity and environmental impact from outset to guarantee both market acceptance and sustainability of the overall process whilst having a robust safety assurance in place for human health. By the end of the project, the scaling-up production of these sustainable materials and their validation according to the industrial requirements will enable to demonstrate this technology in relevant environment. The vision and flow chart of the SUPREME project are presented in Figure 1.
The SUPREME project will develop an innovative platform of sustainable, safe, efficient and multimodal nanocoatings with a superior antimicrobial efficacy, robust durability and adhesion, and a readiness for scaling up. The nanocoatings will be assessed by an extensive characterisation and thorough tests against EU/international standards before being recommended for industrial applications. This will be realised by bringing significant advances beyond the state-of-the-art.