The COVID-19 pandemic made us all more aware of invisible germs that can infect us. At the beginning, my wife would tediously clean every piece of produce that came into the house before it hit the fruit bowl. A recent Medgadget article discussed a novel coating designed to rapidly kill a wide range of pathogens such as MRSA and SARS-CoV-2. The innovative coating uses polyurethane that has crosslinked compounds from antimicrobial essential oils.
The team tweaked the crosslinking process so that the oils could kill microbes and not evaporate quickly. While surface cleaners can kill germs quickly, they leave the surfaces vulnerable to reinfection. The new coating continues to be effective for up to six months, and can be recharged by reapplying fresh oils.
