As humans, we coexist with an innumerable variety of other living species such as mammalians and microbial materials, differing in their helpful and harmful functions to humankind. The microbial matter is categorized as virus, bacteria, fungus, algae, etc. They are vitally important to virtually all processes on Earth and affect every aspect of our lives in us, on us, and around us. Though some of the microbes are very useful to drive various metabolic processes in our body for sustained growth, some of them, called pathogens, are disastrous for our health, causing various diseases affecting individuals and the community on a large scale. There are ∼1,400 known species of human pathogens (including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and helminths). The most recent example is the pandemic caused by the Saras-cov-2 virus, affecting and taking a toll on millions of people globally. 

Soil, sediments, buildings, and the environment are the chief breeding grounds for different microorganisms. It is a big challenge to combat them at the source itself. Though technologies such as filtration, biocides, etc., are available to remove many of the relatively larger-sized microorganisms in the soil, aquatic, and plant systems or antibiotics, vaccines, and other illnesses-causing pathogens in the human system. Buildings such as hospitals, market places, lavatories, recreation centers, home surfaces, etc., remain a source of pathogenic species, existing as biofilms, causing ailment to a large population. Cleaning and disinfection decontaminate building surfaces; however, their effectiveness is limited.

The advancement in nanoscience has recently led to biocidal paintwork materials and coatings. It has been observed that the development of diverse nanomaterials with antipathogenic activity provides several benefits to counter the threats from the surface and airborne pathogens, including those during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the great anti-microbial potential of nanomaterials, QNano Advanced Materials has focused on developing nanocomposites of copper and its oxide in a polymer matrix and coating thereof for anti-microbial applications.

 

The salient features of copper base antimicrobial nanocomposite are:

• Oxidative damage of the cells of the microbial matter due to higher Cu levels inside a cell;

• Presence of higher copper ion concentration inside the microbial cell causes:

o Death of microbial cells due to leakage of certain cell nutrients, and

o Malfunctioning of cellular proteins leading to their collapse into non-functional parts;

• Continuous reduction in the build-up of microbial population in a short period (inhibit the build-up and bacterial growth in 2 h of the exposures between router cleaning and sanitization stage);

• Effective both against all types of bacteria, fungus, and viruses

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QNano Shield Anti-Viral/Anti-Microbial/Anti-Fungal paint is developed using the indigenously researched Copper Oxide Nano Composite and Titanium di-oxide dispersed in water reducible binder resin.

This product has shown a greater than 90% reduction of gram +ve and gram -ve bacteria and fungal activity per ISO 22196 standard and 2.5 to 2.8 Mv efficacy against Influenza A (H3N2) virus tested as per ISO 18184:2019 applied on non-woven fabric.

 

Some of the Salient Features of the paint are:

• Developed with Green Manufacturing Technology

• Suitable for all the surfaces

• Available in various colors and finishes

• Water reducible

• Application by brush, spray

• Touch Dry in 20 minutes

• Complete Cure in 7-8 hours

• Specific Gravity is 1.1

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