Toray to commercialize multifunctional coating agent with antiviral particles
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Toray to commercialize multifunctional coating agent with antiviral particles

These particles perform much more effectively than conventional metal-based antiviral materials

  • By ICN Bureau | January 20, 2025

Toray Industries announced that it will commercialize a proprietary new multifunctional coating agent combining antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-allergen properties.

This breakthrough incorporates a unique formulation employing high-performance antiviral particles that the company developed in 2022. The particles inactivate viruses around 100 times faster than conventional antiviral materials.

Toray plans to initiate mass production and full-fledged sales during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. From April 2025, textile processors, consumer goods manufacturers, and other users will receive samples of water-dispersed solutions and coatings agent containing the particles to drive marketing for practical applications.

These particles perform much more effectively than conventional metal-based antiviral materials, swiftly deactivating more than 99.9% of SARS-CoV-2 delta (the cause of COVID-19) strains in just 15 seconds. The company achieved this by adding virus adsorption and oxidative degradation capabilities to cerium oxide particles through proprietary synthesis and surface treatment techniques. Toray has confirmed a more than 99.99% inactivation efficiency against influenza viruses and feline calicivirus, a test surrogate for norovirus.

The average particle diameter is just 30 nanometers or so, a result of Toray’s unique particle manufacturing technology. This compactness ensures extremely high dispersion in aqueous solutions and little light scattering, for high transparency that preserves product appearances.

Another advantage is the high structural stability of cerium oxide. This resists discoloration and other changes over time, one of the issues with such traditional metal-based antiviral materials as silver or copper.

Toray drew on its analysis of the particles’ inactivation mechanism to develop a high-performance coating agent by formulating an optimal additive that provides excellent dispersion and strong materials adhesion. An external testing institution confirmed that nonwoven fabrics impregnated with this coating retained their rapid antiviral effectiveness while providing antibacterial protection against E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, combatting such molds as Aspergillus niger, and safeguarding against cedar and dust mite allergens.

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