Nov_Dec_AMP_Digital

A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 4 2 iTSSe TSS iTSSe TSS as removal and reinstallation costs. The antiviral coatings will be produced by Polycontrols in the PolyCSAM facility using the cold spray and post-treatment conditions developed by Mc- Gill and NRC and powders developed by 5N Plus. All aspects of process industrialization will be assessed, including robot toolpath planning, and general coating deposition for quality/ cost optimization. PROMISING PRELIMINARY RESULTS The antiviral activity of different surfaces, namely a cop- per plate, a stainless steel plate, and one of the cold spray copper coatings, was tested. Figure 2 shows the luciferase measurements for the different surfaces (more information on experimental protocols are provided in the figure caption). The upper red line corresponds to the initial infection level while the lower red line corresponds to the measurement made on a non-infected surface, which thus corresponds to the limit of detection of the method. It can be seen that, after 60 minutes, stainless steel had a significantly lower effect on virus inactiva- tion as compared to the copper plate. The cold spray copper coating yielded a 4-log reduction of live virus demonstrating a significantly higher antiviral performance than the copper plate that showed an approximately 2-log reductionwithin the same period. This result, obtained in an early stage of research, without having completed the planned optimization of coat- ingmicrostructure and post-surface engineering, is very prom- ising and confirms the added value of using cold spray to apply an antiviral coating on high-touch surfaces to provide a control and preventionmechanism against fomite transmission. EXPECTED OUTCOME AND TIMELINE This project aims at providing a cold spray antiviral cop- per-based coating solution that could be readily adopted as a passive prevention and control measure to limit the fomite transmission of SARS-CoV-2. At the same time, these coat- ings may also prevent the transmission of other viruses and bacteria. The proposed solution would encompass aspects relevant to the whole manufacturing value chain: feedstock characteristic determination and upscaling feasibility, coating deposition and post-processing conditions, selection of high- touch surface components based on touch frequency statis- tics, and modeling and industrialization. Economics, technical requirements for the components in terms of wear and corro- sion resistance, structural properties, as well as architectural and esthetical considerations are key decision factors for the industrialization. The first phase of this project will bring coat- ed components of public infrastructures for in situ evaluation and is set to be completed by March 2021. Longer term objec- tives include an in situ antiviral study as well as durability and performance stability assessments under repeated industrial cleaning and healthcare disinfection protocols. ~iTSSe Lead image: 2019-nCoV spike protein, courtesy of JasonMcLel- lan/University of Texas at Austin. For more information: Eric Irissou, senior research offi- cer and team leader, National Research Council Canada, 75 de Mortagne Blvd., Boucherville, QC, Canada, J4B 6Y4, eric.irissou@cnrc-nrc.gc.ca, https://nrc.canada.ca . Acknowledgment Prof. Yue and Prof. Liang acknowledge funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Alliance COVID-19 grant. The cold spray facility was partially 6 Fig. 1 — Initial cold spray copper coating deposition trial on a high-touch surface component. As deposited (left) and with post- finish treatment (right). Cold spray coating was performed at the PolyCSAM facility. Fig. 2 — Luciferase levels detected on different surfaces (stainless steel plate, copper plate, and cold spray (CS) copper coating). First, a defined amount of Lenti-Luc reporter viruses (enveloped particles carrying membrane lipids, similar to HCoV-229E and SARS-CoV-2) was applied to each surface and, after 60 minutes, the virus samples were recovered with culture media and co-cultured with HEK293T cells. Finally, two days following infection, luciferase activity in the infected HEK293T cells was determined. Three replicates per type of surface were tested. FEATURE