SELF-STERILIZING COATINGS

    PROJECT: The making of a self-sterilizing coating. It is proposed that the students will coat surfaces with either a paint, varnish or a plastic coating that, when touched, becomes sterile within a few seconds of handling, and that this self-sterilizing property will persist as long as the coating has not worn away. The coatings will have additives that are antibacterial but harmless to higher organisms.

    More than $300 billion is lost to the national economy due to such common diseases as common colds, flu, and strep throat. While medications are part of this, the majority of the expense is lost labor hours due to absenteeism and the need for replacements and substitutes. Give attention to schools, for example. A child with a cold touches something and then the next uninfected child or teacher touches that same place and contracts the disease, and then takes it home, spreads it to parents, who, in turn, take it to work with them. And so it goes around and around. To break even a few of the links and drop the national loss even 5% is a gain - a mere $15 billion, which is no small amount.

    The cleaning staffs of many public buildings do wipe-downs with antibacterials. But the effectiveness lasts only as long as it takes for the agent to evaporate. Then, until the next wipe-down - perhaps a day later, the surface is unprotected. We need a surface that when touched sterilizes itself - and the sooner the better. Perhaps we should aim for a minimum of a 15-second sterilization period.

    Such coatings would be valuable, for example, as railings and doorknobs in public buildings, and as coatings for utensil handles if public buffet, self-serve restaurants. Numerous other applications can be imagined in hospitals. Testing the validity of the self-sterilizing properties requires a number of microbiological skills. A candidate antibacterial compound is shown here:

    Along with THIS PAGE, also print out ONLY the following handout APPROPRIATE to you:

Self-Sterilizing PAINT or VARNISH
Self-Sterilizing EPOXY PLASTIC
Self-Sterilizing FIBER GLASS