Page 45 - Plastics News September 2022

TECHNOLOGY

Self-Sterilizing Plastic Film Kills Viruses Using Ordinary Scientists use laser flashes
Light to make tiny diamonds

out of plastic bottles

n a breakthrough, scientists have
Iused laser flashes to make tiny
diamonds out of plastic bottles and
even suggested that it could be rain-
ing diamonds on planets through-
out the universe. The research is
published in Science Advances.
self-sterilizing low-density poly- that it will be a huge benefit to society.” Scientists have used common plastic
A ethylene (LDPE) film containing Other applications where ex- to recreate the precipitation believed
nanoparticles of titanium dioxide kills truded plastic film is used, such as to form deep inside Uranus and
viruses, such as COVID-19, when ex- food production, may also ben- Neptune. The strange phenomenon
posed to an ordinary light source. The efit, according to the researchers. of making diamonds could help to
first-of-its-kind material costs little limit plastic waste on the planet also.
to produce, can be easily scaled, and The self-sterilizing plastic film was In the past, scientists theorised that
could be used for disposable aprons, tested for anti-viral activity against extremely high pressure and temper-
tablecloths, and curtains in hospitals. four different viruses — two strains of atures turn hydrogen and carbon into
influenza A virus, a highly-stable pi- solid diamonds thousands of kilome-
The thin coating absorbs UV light cornavirus called EMCV, and SARS2. tres below the surface of the ice giants.
and produces reactive oxygen spe- The film was exposed either to UVA In the latest research, scientists have
cies (ROS), which kill viruses, said radiation or light from a cool white found that "diamond rain" could
researchers at Queen’s University Bel- light fluorescent lamp. The researchers be more common than thought.
fast. The technology used to create the found that the film is effective at kill- Dominik Kraus, who is a physicist
film also ensures it is degradable, un- ing all of the viruses, even in a room at Germany's HZDR research lab,
like the current disposable plastic films lit with just white fluorescent tubes. said that diamond precipitation
it would replace, added the scientists. was quite different to rain on Earth.
In controlled laboratory conditions,
They claim that the breakthrough could about one million virus particles were Kraus is one of the study's authors.
lead to a significant reduction in the placed on the self-sterilizing plastic, far The process of creating the nano
transmission of viruses in healthcare more than would be needed to start diamonds is not easy, it required ex-
environments. “This film could replace an infection, said the BBC in its re- traordinarily high pressures. The re-
many of the disposable plastic films porting on the research. "It goes from search team found the necessary mix
used in the healthcare industry, as it has one million viruses down to noth- of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in
the added value of being self-sterilizing ing, and we can see an effect in less a readily available source, PET plas-
tic. For the unversed, PET is used for
at no real extra cost,” said Professor than one hour and maximum death everyday food packaging and bottles.
Andrew Mills. “Through rigorous test- in two hours," Dr Connor Bamford
ing we have found that it is effective at of the school of medicine at Queen's Siegfried Glenzer at SLAC Na-
tional Accelerator Laboratory in
killing viruses with just room light — University Belfast told the BBC. California and his colleagues found
this is the first time that anything like that by using the mentioned plas-
this has been developed and we hope tic, diamonds can be made in
much less extreme conditions.
44 PLASTICS NEWS September 2022 45 PLASTICS NEWS September 2022