I-Corps: Antimicrobial Microgels for Air Purification

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为空气和水净化提供新的具有成本效益和效率的聚合物，以最大限度地减少细菌和其他病原体引起的感染风险。该技术有可能改善或取代现有供暖、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他们对无菌空气的需求，但所需的空气处理器消耗大量能源，价格昂贵，并且对于某些设施来说往往成本过高。这里开发的平台技术可能解决这些缺点，并且还适应广泛的其他潜在应用，例如制造防护织物和涂料，作为化妆品和绷带的一部分，或者作为医疗器械和植入物的涂层，而不需要终端用户的专用设备。该平台有助于集成到现有的制造工艺中，并以最小的前期投资进入各个细分市场。该I-Corps项目进一步开发了抗菌微凝胶平台，其初步应用以空气净化为中心。交联聚丙烯酸酯含有固定的过渡金属配合物。该材料是在环境温度或更低温度下使用紫外光引发的细乳液自由基聚合合成的。在适当的疏水物和离子表面活性剂存在下，通过单体混合物在水溶液中的超剪切获得细乳液。所得悬浮液显示出对革兰氏阳性和阴性细菌的高抗微生物活性，这是由材料性质的协同作用引起的。延长保质期的稳定性和活性的材料已被证明，活性的聚合物悬浮液在培养皿测定已被记录，并证明概念数据的材料活动时，安装在paper.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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.