AN antibacterial fabric which has been shown to kill off two of the world's most infectious and deadly pathogens has been developed by scientists in Melbourne.
Both E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus were shown to die off within 10 minutes of contact with the fabric, which utilises the antibacterial properties of silver.
Potential applications include bandaids and wound dressings, surgical gowns and bed sheets as a hi-tech means to reduce hospital-acquired infections.
"It has been known for the last hundred years that silver is anti-bacterial," explains Associate Professor Vipul Bansal, from RMIT University's School of Applied Sciences.
"Silver metal, when it comes into contact with body fluids, releases silver ions and these ions are actually toxic and have anti-microbial and antibacterial properties.
"Instead of using silver metals, we developed a new material called silver TCNQ which releases these silver ions quite slowly so the antibacterial effect is long-term."
The new material is suited to use as a fabric coating, Assoc Prof Bansal said, and its potency has been found to survive multiple washes.
Ordinary fabric is dipped into a special solution to give it the desired antibacterial properties.
"We have shown that we can do up to one metre in one go with this simple immersion process," Assoc Prof Bansal said.
"We also took one of our old used T-shirts ... dipped it into solution and the whole T-shirt became this material so it is quite an efficient process."
The T-shirt remains off-limits for wear until testing confirms the material has no negative effect on human cells.
The research has been ongoing for a year in collaboration with CSIRO, and a paper describing the new material was recently published in the prestigious journal Advanced Functional Materials.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Scientists make bacteria-killing fabric
Dengan url
http://beritasementara.blogspot.com/2014/05/scientists-make-bacteria-killing-fabric.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Scientists make bacteria-killing fabric
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Scientists make bacteria-killing fabric
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar