"Sanitizing plastic": antiviral nanoparticle decorated surfaces for antiseptic packaging against COVID-19

与许多其他类型的病毒相比，新冠肺炎等被包裹的病毒在表面上的存活时间要长得多。随着最近的公共卫生运动，人们在接触门把手或购物车等室外坚硬表面后，越来越意识到洗手的必要性。然而，新冠肺炎可以在塑料表面上停留长达3天，如果放在冰箱里，甚至更长时间。一旦被带入家中，这些物品可能会成为潜在的污染源，并感染家中的居民，包括老年人、免疫系统受损的人和儿童等弱势群体。缺乏对这种风险的认识或知识对大多数没有任何医学背景或培训的消费者构成了挑战。一种具有有效抗病毒表面的一次性包装材料可以分解病毒，使处于自我隔离状态的人更容易确保安全，防止意外感染，并保护加拿大家庭。 利用针对新冠肺炎周围保护膜的纳米颗粒，我们提议制造一种抗病毒塑料，这种塑料可以加速柔性表面上冠状病毒的降解，例如我们带回家的塑料食品包装。积极地对塑料进行消毒可以帮助消费者以更安全的方式购物，并有可能降低易受感染人群的感染风险。由于我们的抗病毒纳米颗粒表面针对的是新冠肺炎病毒的衣壳和脂质保护鞘，而不是它的核糖核酸，它们可能会作为广谱抗病毒剂，为加拿大未来由类似结构的病毒引起的流行病做好准备。虽然这里我们关注的是对可以并入包装中的塑料进行消毒，以加快新冠肺炎的销毁速度，但嵌入塑料的纳米颗粒也有可能被并入编织结构中。然后，它可以用于空气过滤器、消毒手巾和其他个人防护用品。在全人类面临的反病毒运动中，这种新方法具有巨大的潜力。

Enveloped viruses such as COVID-19 have a much longer survivability on surfaces than many other types of viruses. With the recent public health campaigns, people have become much more aware of the need for hand washing after touching hard surfaces outside the home, like door handles or shopping carts. However, COVID-19 can persist on plastic surfaces such as the packaging of groceries for as long as 3 days, and even longer if kept in the fridge. Once brought into the home, those items can become potential sources of pollution and infect residents of the home, including vulnerable people like seniors, people with compromised immune systems, and children. Lack of awareness or knowledge of such risk poses a challenge to most consumers without any medical background or training. A disposable packaging material with an effective antiviral surface could break down the virus, make it easier for people in self-isolation to ensure safety against accidental infection, and protect Canadian homes. Using nanoparticles that target the protective sheath around COVID-19, we propose to make an anti-viral plastic that can accelerate the degradation of coronaviruses on flexible surfaces, such as plastic food packaging that we bring home. An actively "sanitizing plastic" can help consumers shop in a safer way and potentially decrease the risk of infection among vulnerable population. Since our antiviral nanoparticle surfaces target the capsid and lipid protection sheath of the Covid-19 virus instead of its RNA, they could potentially act as broad-spectrum antiviral agents, preparing Canada for future epidemics caused by viruses of similar structure. Though here we focus on sanitizing plastic that could be incorporated into packaging to speed the destruction of COVID-19, it is possible that the nanoparticle embedded plastic could be incorporated into a woven structure. It can then be used in air filters, sanitizing handwipes, and other PPE in general. In the anti-virus campaign faced by all humanity, this new approach has tremendous potential.