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Cupric Oxide Coating That Rapidly Reduces Infection by SARS-CoV-2 via Solids

Leo Poon, Co-Director at HKU-Pasteur, and Alex Chin, Alex Chin, investigator in Professor Poon’s team, just published the new developments of their projects on surface coating conducted with Professor William Ducker of the Department of Engineering at Virginia Tech.

In this follow-up study, Prof. Ducker’s group has developed another copper-bearing coating containing cupric oxide (CuO) that targets to reduce the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 on a contaminated surface.


The project resulted in the development of a porous and hydrophilic coating that can be coated on smooth surfaces such as glass. The hydrophilic property of the coating is long-lasting and allows efficient imbibition of a droplet to increase the surface area of contact.


The coating could reduce the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 by 99.9% in 1 hour, whereas control glass without coating required 2 days to achieve the same level of reduction in virus infectivity. The efficiency was even higher with a thicker coating that reduced the infectivity of the virus within 30 min. The team believe this coating can be applied to common touch surfaces to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission via indirect contact.



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