Air quality in enclosed spaces is important for human health and well-being, and the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of removing pathogens from air. For example, air filters can be outfitted with antibacterial particles such as silver nanoparticles or combined with antimicrobial copper nets. Such filters can then be used, e.g., in indoor or car air filters.

Aharon Gedanken, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, and colleagues have developed an antiviral and antibacterial car air filter using nonwoven polyester filter media sonochemically coated with CuO nanoparticles. The team used a roll-to-roll coating machine to apply the coating to rolls of filter material. The coating was prepared using a solution of copper acetate and ammonia in water, which was heated to create CuO particles. The coated filter media were then used to make car air filters.

The team tested the antibacterial and antiviral properties of the coated material using Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, H1N1 influenza, and SARS-CoV-2 as model pathogens. They also evaluated the general filtering properties of the resulting filters. They found that the coated material showed good potency in eradicating the chosen bacteria and viruses. The coating was stable and did not have a negative impact on the filtring properties. According to the researchers, the coating process can be easily used in an industrial environment, which is promising for applications.

• CuO-Coated Antibacterial and Antiviral Car Air-Conditioning Filters,
  Ilana Perelshtein, Itsik Levi, Nina Perkas, Avi Pollak, Aharon Gedanken,
  ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022.
  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c06433