I-Corps: Antimicrobial Microgels for Air Purification

I-Corps：用于空气净化的抗菌微凝胶

• 批准号: 1946566
• 负责人: Susanne Striegler
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Arkansas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-15 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1946566&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Antimicrobial; Microgels; Air; Purification

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to provide new cost-effective and efficient polymers for air and water purification to minimize the risk of infections caused by bacteria and other pathogens. The technology has the potential to improve or replace traditional methods for air purification in established heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems without modifications of existing equipment. While hospitals heavily rely on high-efficiency particulate air filters to fulfill their need for bacteria-free air, the required air handlers consume a significant energy, are expensive, and often cost-prohibitive for some facilities. The platform technology developed here potentially addresses these drawbacks and also accommodates a wide range of other potential applications, such as manufacturing of protective fabrics, and paints, as part of cosmetics and bandages, or as coatings of medical devices and implants without the need for specialized equipment for the end-user. The platform facilitates the integration into existing manufacturing processes and gives access to various market segments at minimal upfront investment.This I-Corps project further develops a platform for antimicrobial microgels with initial applications centering on air purification. The cross-linked polyacrylates contain immobilized transition metal complexes. The material is synthesized using UV-light initiated radical polymerization of miniemulsions at ambient temperature or below. The miniemulsions are obtained by ultra-sheering of monomer mixtures in aqueous solutions in presence of appropriate hydrophobes and ionic surfactants. The resulting suspensions show high antimicrobial activity towards Gram-positive and -negative bacteria that result from a synergy of material properties. Extended shelf-life stability and activity of the material have been demonstrated, the activity of the polymer suspensions in Petri-dish assays have been documented, and proof-of-concept data for material activity when mounted on paper have been obtained.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该 I-Corps 项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为空气和水净化提供新的具有成本效益和高效的聚合物，以最大限度地减少细菌和其他病原体引起的感染风险。该技术有潜力改进或取代现有供暖、通风和空调系统中的传统空气净化方法，而无需修改现有设备。虽然医院严重依赖高效颗粒空气过滤器来满足对无菌空气的需求，但所需的空气处理器消耗大量能源，价格昂贵，而且对于某些设施来说成本往往过高。这里开发的平台技术有可能解决这些缺点，并适应广泛的其他潜在应用，例如制造防护织物和油漆，作为化妆品和绷带的一部分，或作为医疗设备和植入物的涂层，而无需最终用户使用专门设备。该平台有助于集成到现有的制造工艺中，并以最少的前期投资进入各个细分市场。该 I-Corps 项目进一步开发了一个抗菌微凝胶平台，初步应用集中在空气净化领域。交联聚丙烯酸酯含有固定的过渡金属络合物。该材料是在环境温度或更低温度下使用紫外光引发细乳液自由基聚合来合成的。细乳液是通过在适当的疏水物和离子表面活性剂存在下对水溶液中的单体混合物进行超剪切而获得的。由于材料特性的协同作用，所得悬浮液对革兰氏阳性和阴性细菌表现出高抗菌活性。该材料的延长保质期稳定性和活性已得到证明，聚合物悬浮液在培养皿测定中的活性已得到记录，并获得了安装在纸上时材料活性的概念验证数据。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。