Can Nanotechnology and Materials Science Help the Fight against SARS-CoV-2?

Abstract

Since 2004, we have been developing nanomaterials with antimicrobial properties, the so-called nanoantimicrobials. When the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged, we started investigating new and challenging routes to nanoantivirals. The two fields have some important points of contact. We would like to share with the readership our vision of the role a (nano)materials scientist can play in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. As researchers specifically working on surfaces and nanomaterials, in this letter we underline the importance of nanomaterial-based technological solutions in several aspects of the fight against the virus. While great resources are understandably being dedicated to treatment and diagnosis, more efforts could be dedicated to limit the virus spread. Increasing the efficacy of personal protection equipment, developing synergistic antiviral coatings, are only two of the cases discussed. This is not the first nor the last pandemic: our nanomaterials community may offer several technological solutions to challenge the ongoing and future global health emergencies. Readers' feedback and suggestions are warmly encouraged.

Zinc and Copper Ions Differentially Regulate Prion-Like Phase Separation Dynamics of Pan-Virus Nucleocapsid Biomolecular Condensates

“…Non-toxic, hybrid cured coatings containing copper also have virucidal activity against HIV-1 and other enveloped viruses [ 228 ]. The risk of contaminated surfaces and the use of antimicrobial surfaces and materials sciences in high-risk environments have recently been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic [ 253 ]. Since preventative strategies are perhaps as important as discovering healing drugs or therapies, antimicrobial surfaces are truly poised to prevent the spread of many infectious agents retaining infectivity on surfaces.…”

Graphene nanoplatelet and Graphene oxide functionalization of face mask materials inhibits infectivity of trapped SARS-CoV-2

“…To improve the protective properties of masks, nanomaterials scientists have proposed integration of virus-inactivating properties with standard propylene-and cloth-filtering properties with the goal of developing improved PPE (7)(8)(9)(10).…”

Biomedical Science to Tackle the COVID-19 Pandemic: Current Status and Future Perspectives

“…Designing tailored biosensors has shown significant relevance and many examples are currently successfully used in biotechnological applications [ 7 , 166 , 167 ]. Efficient biotechnological approaches relying on the use of nanomaterials for the detection and monitoring of emerging or re-emerging viral agents, such as West Nile virus, Hantavirus, Nipah virus, Chikungunya, Zika, a variety of influenza strains, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) [ 7 , 163 , 166 , 167 , 168 , 169 ] remain a key goal of current research [ 170 ]. Most of these approaches count on metallic and magnetic NPs, functional thin layers, organic/inorganic NPs, DNA nanostructures, polymer/silica NPs, quantum dots (QDs) and carbon QDs (CQDs) of different shapes, sizes and functionalities [ 163 , 171 , 172 , 173 ].…”

“…These points are usually denoted in the literature as “hotspots” which are currently extensively investigated aiming at designing highly performant plasmonic nanostructures. While growth techniques yield individual NPs that suffer from polydispersity and different geometries affecting their optimal performance, lithographic fabrication techniques offer, on the other hand, a tight control over the size and shape and the concomitant optical properties of these NPs [ 170 , 215 , 216 ].…”