Copper is an extremely useful element in the fight against bacteria, and its anti-microbial properties have been shown to be effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, fungi, and even viruses. This makes the material extremely useful in situations where the presence of bacteria on a surface could lead to dangerous infections, like in a hospital.
Researchers from Australia have now delivered an improved copper surface that can kill some bacteria 120 times faster than regular copper. As reported in the journal Biomaterials, the material was tested against Staphylococcus aureus, AKA golden staph, a bacterium that was responsible for 50,000 deaths per year in the United States in data collected 15 years ago.
“A standard copper surface will kill about 97% of golden staph within four hours,” senior author Professor Ma Qian, from RMIT University, said in a statement. “Incredibly, when we placed golden staph bacteria on our specially-designed copper surface, it destroyed more than 99.99% of the cells in just two minutes. So not only is it more effective, it’s 120 times faster. Our copper structure has shown itself to be remarkably potent for such a common material.”
The secret of the material is in its microscopic structure. To achieve it the team used a special copper mold casting process that creates an alloy made of copper and manganese. The manganese is then chemically removed in a way that is both cheap and scalable.
What’s left behind is a surface that is full of tiny...
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