Researchers at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed sustainable machine-washable antimicrobial wipes that can be used at least 30 times for cleaning hard and nonporous surfaces.
- The new wipes are significant since most antimicrobial wipes, which are predominantly made of synthetic fibres are discarded after a single use and end up in landfills where they can stay for hundreds of years and become a source of environmental microplastic fibre pollution.
- Scientists at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have developed the wipes. The ARS is the USDA's chief scientific in-house research agency.
- More details about the study and the technology behind the antimicrobial wipes have been published in the journal Molecules.
The Wipes Market: There has been a remarkable increase in the use of antimicrobial wipes due to the growing awareness of personal health protection.
- According to the Antimicrobial Wipes Market Outlook report, the worldwide antimicrobial wipes market is estimated to reach $21.6 billion by 2030.
The New Wipes: ARS researchers developed antimicrobial wipes by using raw cotton fibre that naturally produced silver nanoparticles inside the fibre in the presence of a silver precursor.
- These embedded silver nanoparticles can then release silver ions that act as antibacterial agents and kill harmful bacteria.
- Silver nanoparticles are one of the popular antimicrobial agents used for producing odour-inhibiting, anti-infective textile products and other personal health products.
- People will be able to clean surfaces by wetting the antimicrobial cloths with tap water and then wiping surfaces. In their research, the scientists found that the wipes killed 99.9% of harmful bacteria S. aureus and P. aeruginosa on surfaces.
The Advantages: The technology behind this research is advantageous in several aspects.
- It omits the conventional pretreatments of raw cotton fibres (such as scouring and bleaching), which consume a large number of chemicals and energy. It does not require any chemical agents except for a silver precursor.
- It also transforms cotton fibres themselves into antimicrobial agents rather than serving as a carrier of antimicrobial agents, which is what makes them reusable.
- The antimicrobial wipes are made from natural cotton fibres, rather than conventional petroleum-based synthetic fibres.
- To reuse the wipes, people can simply wash them in the laundry.
What They Said:
We also found that the wipes still successfully killed pathogens — even after being washed 30 times in the laundry. The wipes regenerate their antimicrobial surface every time they are wet or washed because the embedded nanoparticles act as a reservoir of silver ions.
— Sunghyun Nam
Research engineer, Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research Unit
Agricultural Research Service
