{"id":389135,"date":"2026-04-20T18:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389135\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:42:14","slug":"plastic-texturing-kills-viruses-when-they-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389135\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic texturing kills viruses when they land"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"26055-Antiviral<\/p>\n

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image:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Transparent acrylic samples with engineered nanotextured surfaces, prepared for microscopy analysis, showing how clear plastic can be turned into a coating that physically tears viruses apart on contact. Image: RMIT<\/p>\n

view more\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Credit: RMIT University<\/p>\n

Researchers have developed a thin plastic film that tears apart viruses on contact, offering a promising new way to keep high\u2011touch surfaces such as smartphones and hospital equipment from spreading disease.<\/p>\n

The innovation is not only effective at killing viruses, but also far more practical and scalable than earlier metal and silicon\u2011based antiviral surfaces.<\/p>\n

The flexible acrylic surface is textured with ultra\u2011fine structures called nanopillars that grab and stretch the outer shell of the virus so much that it ruptures, killing the virus through mechanical force rather than chemical disinfectants.<\/p>\n

Unlike earlier studies on antiviral coatings, this research published in Advanced Science<\/a> shows stretching rather than skewering viruses is a more effective kill.<\/p>\n

In lab tests with the human parainfluenza virus 3 (hPIV-3) \u2013\u00a0which causes bronchiolitis and pneumonia \u2013 about 94% of the virus particles were either ripped apart or damaged to the point where they could no longer replicate to cause infection within one hour of contact with the surface.<\/p>\n

Study lead author and PhD candidate Samson Mah from Australia\u2019s RMIT University, said the team used cheap, flexible plastic that can be made in big factory rolls, like cling wrap.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs nanofabrication tools get better, our results give a clearer guide to which nanopatterns work best to kill viruses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could one day have surfaces like phone screens, keyboards and hospital tables covered with this film, killing viruses on contact without using harsh chemicals.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mould can be adapted to roll\u2011to\u2011roll manufacturing, meaning antiviral plastic films could be produced at scale with existing factory equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mah said the research revealed how distance between the nanopillars matters far more than their height.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy tweaking the spacing and height of the nanopillars, we discovered how tightly they are packed together is far more important than how tall they are for breaking viruses apart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the nanopillars are closer together, more of them can press on the same virus at once, stretching its outer shell past breaking point.\u201d<\/p>\n

While early experiments on rigid substrates such as nanospike silicon showed viruses could be physically disrupted, this study showed the surfaces textured with not only spiky-like nanofeatures, but also with blunt nanopillars can efficiently kill viruses.<\/p>\n

This new research shows the same virus\u2011killing action on flexible plastic and proposes a simple design rule: the closer together the nanofeatures such as spikes or nanopillars are, the better they work.<\/p>\n

This strongest effect came from densely packed nanopillars with about 60 nanometres between them, while widening the gaps to 100 nanometres reduced the antiviral power and 200 nanometres effectively switched it off.<\/p>\n

So far, the work has focused on hPIV\u20113, an enveloped virus with a fatty outer membrane; the team now plans to test smaller and non\u2011enveloped viruses to see how broadly the nanotextured surface works.<\/p>\n

An enveloped virus has a fragile fatty membrane around it that can be more easily disrupted by nanopillars, while a non-enveloped virus lacks this outer layer, making it harder to kill.<\/p>\n

More research is also needed to study the texturing\u2019s effectiveness on curved surfaces, which affects the nanopillars\u2019 spacing.<\/p>\n

Study co\u2011author Distinguished Professor Elena Ivanova from RMIT said the team is keen to work with industry to further the research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think this texturing is a strong candidate for everyday use and we\u2019re ready to partner with companies to refine it for large\u2011scale manufacturing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Organisations wishing to partner with RMIT can contact research.partnerships@rmit.edu.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Designing Scalable Mechano-Virucidal Nanostructured Acrylic Surfaces for Enhanced Viral Inactivation<\/a>\u2019, is published in Advanced Science. (DOI: 10.1002\/advs.202521667)<\/p>\n

Method of Research<\/p>\n

Experimental study<\/p>\n

Subject of Research<\/p>\n

Cells<\/p>\n

Article Title<\/p>\n

Designing Scalable Mechano-Virucidal Nanostructured Acrylic Surfaces for Enhanced Viral Inactivation<\/p>\n

Article Publication Date<\/p>\n

13-Feb-2026<\/p>\n

COI Statement<\/p>\n

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"image:\u00a0 Transparent acrylic samples with engineered nanotextured surfaces, prepared for microscopy analysis, showing how clear plastic can be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-389135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}