posted on 2021-07-27, 13:39authored byBin Li, Dong Wang, Michelle M. S. Lee, Wei Wang, Qingqin Tan, Zhaoyan Zhao, Ben Zhong Tang, Xi Huang
Personal
protective equipment (PPE) is vital for the prevention
and control of SARS-CoV-2. However, conventional PPEs lack virucidal
capabilities and arbitrarily discarding used PPEs may cause a high
risk for cross-contamination and environmental pollution. Recently
reported photothermal or photodynamic-mediated self-sterilizing masks
show bactericidal–virucidal abilities but have some inherent
disadvantages, such as generating unbearable heat during the photothermal
process or requiring additional ultraviolet light irradiation to inactivate
pathogens, which limit their practical applications. Here, we report
the fabrication of a series of fabrics (derived from various PPEs)
with real-time self-antiviral capabilities, on the basis of a highly
efficient aggregation-induced emission photosensitizer (namely, ASCP-TPA).
ASCP-TPA possesses facile synthesis, excellent biocompatibility, and
extremely high reactive oxygen species generation capacity, which
significantly outperforms the traditional photosensitizers. Meanwhile,
the ASCP-TPA-attached fabrics (ATaFs) show tremendous photodynamic
inactivation effects against MHV-A59, a surrogate coronavirus of SARS-CoV-2.
Upon ultralow-power white light irradiation (3.0 mW cm–2), >99.999% virions (5 log) on the ATaFs are eliminated within
10
min. Such ultralow-power requirement and rapid virus-killing ability
enable ATaFs-based PPEs to provide real-time protection for the wearers
under indoor light irradiation. ATaFs’ virucidal abilities
are retained after 100 washings or continuous exposure to office light
for 2 weeks, which offers the benefits of reusability and long-term
usability. Furthermore, ATaFs show no toxicity to normal skin, even
upon continuous high-power light illumination. This self-antiviral
ATaFs-based strategy may also be applied to fight against other airborne
pathogens and holds huge potential to alleviate global PPE supply
shortages.