At RMIT University in Australia a team of scientists developed a copper alloy that can kill bacteria on its surface 100 times faster than regular copper. The researchers created the material using copper and manganese atoms, and then removed the manganese after the material was formed, resulting in a comb-like copper structure with massively increased surface area. The development could help with the fight against drug-resistant bacteria in healthcare facilities and may be useful in anti-microbial door handles and hand-rails, face masks, respirators, and ventilation systems.
Images magnified 120,000 times under a scanning electron microscope show golden staph bacteria cells after two minutes on a) polished stainless steel, b) polished copper, and in c) and d), the team’s micro-nano copper surface.
Copper is naturally antibacterial, with copper ions producing toxic effects in exposed bacterial cells. While this natural phenomenon is useful, it can be a little slow for routine antimicrobial use, potentially taking hours to kill bacteria on a surface. For commonly touched objects, such as door handles in a busy hospital corridor, this likely wouldn’t be fast enough to prevent bacterial transfer from one person to another.
“A standard copper surface will kill about 97% of golden staph within four hours,” said Ma Qian, one of the developers of the new material, in a press release. “Incredibly, when we placed golden staph bacteria on our specially-designed copper surface, it...
Read Full Story: https://www.medgadget.com/2021/12/high-surface-area-copper-for-enhanced-antibacterial-activity.html
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