A food packaging film with antifungal and bactericidal properties and demonstrated effectiveness against SARS-CoV2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — is being eyed by a consortium of companies for deactivating COVID-19 on surfaces beyond food packaging.

The film, dubbed AlpFilm Protect PVC, was developed by collaborating companies Braskem, AplFilm, Nanox, UFSCar (Brazil) and Jaume I of Castellón (Spain), which adapted the composition of a film already on the market to work on surfaces.

The PVC transparent film designed for food packaging and originally developed by Nanox featured both antifungal and bactericidal properties. In the lab, the silica in the film’s composition behaved as a semiconductor that was activated by the addition of metallic silver microparticles, which produced oxidative molecules that deactivated almost 80% of the coronavirus in just three minutes and 99.99% of the virus in 15 minutes.

Following some modifications, the developers believe that AlpFilm Protect PVC can be applied to surfaces in addition to food packaging.

AlpFilm Protect PVC is currently on the market.

For more on the surface technologies to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, read “Scratching the surface of COVID-19 — The coating, film and other surface technologies to emerge from the pandemic.”