Bioactive Ag3PO4/Polypropylene Composites for Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Important Public Health Pathogens

• Autor(a) principal: Ribeiro, Lara K.
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Assis, Marcelo, Lima, Lais R., Coelho, Dyovani, Gonçalves, Mariana O., Paiva, Robert S., Moraes, Leonardo N. [UNESP], Almeida, Lauana F. [UNESP], Lipsky, Felipe, San-Miguel, Miguel A., Mascaro, Lúcia H., Grotto, Rejane M. T. [UNESP], Sousa, Cristina P., Rosa, Ieda L. V., Cruz, Sandra A., Andrés, Juan, Longo, Elson
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.1c05225; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/222585

The current unprecedented coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is increasingly demanding advanced materials and new technologies to protect us and inactivate SARS-CoV-2. In this research work, we report the manufacture of Ag3PO4 (AP)/polypropylene (PP) composites using a simple method and also reveal their long-term anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. This composite shows superior antibacterial (against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli) and antifungal activity (against Candida albicans), thus having potential for a variety of technological applications. The as-manufactured materials were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, AFM, UV-vis spectroscopy, rheology, SEM, and contact angle to confirm their structural integrity. Based on the results of first-principles calculations at the density functional level, a plausible reaction mechanism for the initial events associated with the generation of both hydroxyl radical •OH and superoxide radical anion •O2- in the most reactive (110) surface of AP was proposed. AP/PP composites proved to be an attractive avenue to provide human beings with a broad spectrum of biocide activity.