ABSTRACT
Contamination of high-touch surfaces with infected droplets of bodily secretions is a known route of virus transmission. Copper surfaces have been reported to inactivate human coronaviruses after several minutes, via the release of Cu cations. Utilization of copper alloys for high-touch surfaces can be a pivotal preemptive strategy for preventing the next pandemic. Understanding the true efficacy by which copper, and copper alloys, inactivate the virus under realistic conditions is essential for tuning intrinsic alloy features such as composition, grain orientation, and surface attributes, to optimize for antiviral function. However, virus inactivation measurements depend on the presence of an assay media (AM) solution as a carrier for the virus, and its effects on the surface properties of pure copper that regulate oxidative copper release are previously unknown. Herein, these properties and the influence of AM on the efficacy of virus inactivation occurring on the surface of pure copper are investigated. The process is uncovered by which a five-fold decrease in virus half-life is observed in simulated real-life conditions, relative to exposure to traditional AM. The investigation highlights the notion that virus inactivation on copper surfaces may be significantly more effective than previously thought. © 2022 The Authors. Advanced Materials Interfaces published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
ABSTRACT
We investigated the ability of Luminore CopperTouch copper and copper-nickel surfaces to inactivate filoviruses and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The copper and copper-nickel surfaces inactivated 99.9% of Ebola and Marburg viruses after 30 min, and the copper surfaces inactivated 99% of SARS-CoV-2 in 2 h. These data reveal that Ebola virus, Marburg virus, and SARS-CoV-2 are inactivated by exposure to copper ions, validating Luminore CopperTouch as an efficacious tool for infection control.