The advanced surface – a new form of conventional transparent wrap – can be applied as shrink wrap to surfaces like door handles, railings, IV poles, etc. The surface has the potential to trap pathogenic microorganisms like MRSA and C. Dificile.

As described in an article published today by ACS Nano, the material is also optimal for food wrap to prevent cross contamination of bacteria such as E. coli, salmonella, and listeria from raw meats like chicken, prohenced, and others.

This research was conducted by Inselder and Collaborator with the Microsociologist Institute for the Study of Infectious Diseases and the McMaster affiliated Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy.

The surface design is inspired by the water-repellent lotus leaf is generated by a very simple combination of nanoscopic surface engineering and chemistry. The surface has a controlled texture with microscopic wrinkles capable of excluding all external molecules. Any droplet of water or blood which contacts the surface is readily bounced or removed. Bacteria is no exception.

“We’re structurally tuning that plastic,” explained Soloaymani, an engineer physicist “This material gives us something that can be applied to all kinds of things.”

The surface undergoes additional chemical treatment to increase its repellant features, thus providing a barrier that is flexible, robust, and cheap to copy.
Didar said, “We can envision this technology being implemented in all sorts of institutional and household facilities.” “While the world is trying to deal with the problem of anti-microbial resistance, we wish it will become a key element of the anti-bacterial arsenal.”

MRSA and Pseudomonas are two of the most concerning antibiotic resistant bacteria and were used to test the material in collaboration with Eric Brown of McMasters Institute for Infectious Disease Research.

Engineers Kathryn Grandfield helped the team confirm that the barrier worked using scanning electron microscopy, which was capable of imaging the new surface and showing that nearly no bacteria were able to transfer onto it.

The researchers are aiming to collaborate with a business partner to design and market the wrap.

Source: McMaster University