A start-up company based in Suffolk has developed an anti-microbial coating that kills viruses and bacteria within seconds.
Codikoat, based at The EpiCentre in Haverhill Research Park, is a firm founded by a team of PhD graduates who have developed a Covid killing coating that can be applied to any product.
The technology is currently patent-pending.
Founded in early 2020 the team set about using their high-flying science backgrounds to develop a technology to help fight the pandemic.
According to Matin Mohseni, the firm's director and one of its co-founders, the product they came up with is "revolutionary" because it lasts for the entire lifetime of a product and kill viruses so quickly.
"The way that it works is a little bit sensitive," he said. "But I think it would be okay to say that nanoparticles interact with surface charge characteristics of viruses and bacteria.
"Current coating technologies rely on silver or copper based materials and take hours to kill viruses or bacteria. Our technology actually does this within seconds and we have proven this in our tests.
"This is something that is really a breakthrough in the field."
The team's products are currently waiting to be tested in an independent laboratory, but they say they have performed well in their own tests — killing 99.99% of viruses within just a few seconds.
Funded with £325,000 from Innovate UK the start-up is made up of Matin, along with Reza Saberi, Payam Nahavandi and Raj Sharma.
Their antiviral coating has already seen significant interest and is being used to coat high touch points or to make virus-killing fabrics, such as masks.
"We are licencing our technology to an adhesive film manufacturer for this product called Govirol," Matin said.
Among the companies interested in using the technology is a supermarket trolley manufacturer.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary and West Suffolk MP, has previously voiced his support for the team after being given a virtual tour of their facilities.
He said: "That’s amazing, I could see the benefit of this immediately including within the NHS."
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