Development of COVID‑19 antiviral coatings for N95 respirators
During the outbreak of COVID-19, personal protective equipment (PPE) has played a critical role as the
first line of defense between the virus and people, particularly healthcare workers. This equipment,
however, is not typically treated to have antiviral properties. Since the virus is viable in aerosols and on
surfaces for days, contaminated PPE has become another potential source of virus infection, posing a
risk to healthcare workers and others handling the waste. In this project, antiviral coatings that are effective for COVID‑19 will be developed. This will include studies on virus viability and altered protein synthesis, after exposure to different coating materials. In collaboration with Eclipse Automation, manufacturing processes will be developed to deposit these antiviral coatings on the fabrics that are employed as the outer layer on N95 respirators. The developed technology will be transferred to industry to provide enhanced PPE for Canadians.
