New anti-Covid steel developed in Hong Kong expected to hit market in 6 months
- The new material has a copper content of more than 10 per cent, enabling it to inactivate 99.75 per cent of coronavirus cells within three hours
- One researcher said talks were under way with industrial partners to produce lift buttons, doorknobs and handrails using the new material
Billed as the world’s first anti-Covid steel, the material adds copper to the usual mix of metals, enabling it to inactivate 99.75 per cent of viable coronavirus cells within three hours, and 99.99 per cent within six, said Professor Huang Mingxin, from the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Virus cells can live on regular surfaces for at least three days.
“Even if you make a very big scratch, it still has the capability to kill the virus because the copper particles are always inside. This is the best thing, compared to other coating technologies which can be scratched off,” Huang said at a press conference on Thursday.
Huang said a patent had been filed and that his team was liaising with industrial partners to produce lift buttons, doorknobs and handrails using the new material that would hopefully hit shelves within six months.
The discovery was the result of two years of trials, which revealed that stainless steel with a copper content of more than 10 per cent could rapidly inactivate pathogens capable of surviving on other metals for a relatively long time.
