New Bacteria-Killing Superfoam Can Help With Oil Spills, Other Environmental Disasters! How Does It Work?

A new bacteria-killing superfoam was developed by scientists at the University of Georgia.

This new material can be used for medical and environmental purposes. They shared their innovation during the institution's press release on Wednesday, Apr. 26.

Involved scientists described the new superfoam as a "spongy Swiss Army knife," saying that it can repel water.

New Bacteria-Killing Superfoam

Involved scientists experienced some struggles developing the new bacteria-killing superfoam.

"Making a multifunctional and versatile surface is an extremely challenging task," said UGA School of Chemical, Materials, and Biomedical Engineering Associate Prof. Hitesh Handa via Interesting Engineering.

He added that it is easy to find a material that is only anti-microbial. The professor further stated that materials for blood clotting prevention are widely available as well.

But, to create a material that is antimicrobial, anticlotting, and antifouling all at the same is a significant step on current standards, as explained by Hitesh.

To create the new superfoam, Hitesh and his team combined different fillers; water-repellant electrically conductive nanoplatelets and hydrophobic bactericidal copper microparticles.

Superfoam's Capabilities

Based on their study, which was published in the ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces journal, the new superfoam material had a 99.9% bacterial reduction capability.

With this ability, the superfoam is expected to improve the health outcomes of over 500,000 patients, especially those who have healthcare-related infections caused by implants.

Aside from this, their tests showed that the new superfoam is also effective when it comes to removing organic pollutants from water.

"The multifunctional properties are what inspired this, then developing that and showcasing all of its abilities," said Mark Garren, a co-author of the study.

The arrival of the superfoam will be critical during clean-ups after environmental disasters happen. It will also be important in medical applications as some medical devices are prone to contamination.

If you want to learn more about the new superfoam material, you can visit this link.

Here is other news about the environment that we recently covered:

The Biden administration's "Community Solar" project was previously introduced to make clean energy more available in the market. Apple announced that it would use recycled materials for batteries starting in 2025.

For more news updates about new environmental-friendly materials and other similar innovations, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.