Researchers from Texas’ Rice University have developed a self-decontaminating fabric that could one day be used in the manufacture of personal protective equipment (PPE).

According to the Rice University researchers, the material can self-decontaminate its surfaces using Joule heating, destroying viruses like SARS-CoV-2 in under 5 seconds while the opposite side of the fabric reportedly stays cool.

Source: Rice University

The researchers suggest that wearable items composed of the material, such as gloves, could be reused hundreds of times, thereby reducing the accumulation of PPE waste, which spiked amid the COVID-19 pandemic with the increased use of single-use nitrile gloves.

To enable the material to self-decontaminate, the researchers used an electric current to rapidly heat the outer surface of the material to 212° F while maintaining a temperature close to normal body temperature — around 97° F — on the opposite site that faces the wearer’s skin.

The Rice University team explained that the material needs to be hot enough to kill viruses, but not hot enough to cause burns.

The material is detailed in the article “Rapid In Situ Thermal Decontamination of Wearable Composite Textile Materials,” which appears in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.