Nanomaterial boosts potency of disinfectants

The use of peroxide-based disinfectants has grown over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this can threaten human health and ecosystems. Now a research team led by The George Washington University (GW) has engineered a new nanomaterial that can boost the potency of common disinfectants, with their results published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

The team showed that when their nanomaterial — a double-atom catalyst — is mixed with a peroxide-based disinfectant, the disinfectant is 2–4 times more effective in disabling a coronavirus strain compared to when the disinfectant is used alone. Furthermore, the researchers noted that the ability to enhance disinfectants with nanomaterials engineered from earth-abundant elements like iron and carbon is more sustainable and cost-effective than other methods.

“Peroxides are often used to kill pathogens, but we have to use a much higher concentration of them than we really need,” said senior author Danmeng Shuai, an associate professor at GW. “With this nanomaterial, we can actually reduce the amount of peroxides we’re using daily, which not only reduces costs but also offers a more sustainable method of disinfection while still achieving the best performance for killing environmental pathogens.”

Shuai and his team developed a Fe−Fe double-atom catalyst, which they mixed with a peroxide and coronavirus strain in two different mediums — artificial saliva and fresh water drawn from a local river — to mimic contact surface cleaning and water disinfection, respectively. The researchers observed that the nanomaterial worked by shuttling electrons from the virus to the peroxide. As a result, the virus became oxidised, damaging the viral genome and proteins as well as the coronavirus lifecycle in the host cells.

“Our work paves a new avenue of leveraging advanced materials for improving disinfection, sanitation and hygiene practices,” said first author Zhe Zhou, a PhD candidate at GW. “Our discovery also has broad engineering applications for advancing catalysis in pollution control, enabling effective and safe disinfection, controlling the environmental transmission of pathogens and ultimately protecting public health.”

The team’s method could be scaled to deactivate environmental pathogens in diverse environments, the researchers said, including the potential to pack the nanomaterial in columns and allow water to pass through, purifying the water in the process. It can also be scaled to use in spray form to disinfect contact surfaces, like countertops.

The researchers said future studies should focus on optimising the materials to further advance the disinfection potency to achieve eco-friendly and robust disinfection to further protect public health.

Image credit: iStock.com/CasarsaGuru