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What are Antimicrobial Coatings?
The Need for Antimicrobials:
Let’s establish a fact. The residue efficacy of disinfectants is minimal at best. For most types of disinfectant, the rule is simply, “Once it is dry – it’s done.”
Worse yet, in the case of quaternary ammonium compounds, if there is a residual left behind, it is a residue of poison, with proven adverse effects to human metabolism and development.
Therefore, if disinfectants only work when wet, then ANY recently disinfected surface may become re-contaminated immediately by the touch, a cough, a sneeze or simply the exhaustion of an infected individual. What is wanted is “round the clock protection“.
Options for Durable Protection:
The two most popular methods for providing a durable bacteriostatic (antimicrobial) coating to environmental surfaces is Silver Ion (above right) and Silane Compound (below, and below right). These both have there advantages and disadvantage. Silver ions are embedded into the antimicrobial coating, making for a flat and easy to clean surface, but must surrender material (referred to as “leaching”) in order to work. Silane Compound Antimicrobials create a rigid carbon structure that doesn’t leach, but these are 3-dimensional structures that can make cleaning validation difficult.
Silane Mode of Action
What Else is Available?
Certain metals have been demonstrated to have natural, non-leaching characteristics, and given the new realities of emerging viruses and increasingly resistant bacteria, there is little doubt that there will be more and more developed.
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