Copper Coated Textiles for Inhibition of Virus Spread

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 is a pandemic, as such developing a type of material that can inhibit the spread of the novel coronavirus is vital. In this article, copper as metallization material for textiles is discussed for developing disinfection mouth masks or other protective textiles. Copper has been proved to have significant effect against certain bacteria or virus according to several research. For example the Human-Coronavirus 229E virus survive time on copper alloy demonstrates the antivirus property of cooper. The mechanism, such as Cu(I) and Cu (II) enhanced by reactive oxygen species generation on alloy surfaces and other theories is discussed. The metallization method for textile includes the dry process and wet process. However, to develop safe and effective cooper-coated material to inhibit COVID-19 virus requires further research.