A School of Engineering student ambassador (front) and University staff member (back) lend a hand with disinfecting Carmel Pak U Secondary School in Tai Po. arlier this year, when many people in Hong Kong were working, studying, or simply staying at home due to the COVID- outbreak, a number of dedicated cleansing crews were out and about in many of the empty schools and community centers, preparing for when the usual inhabitants of these buildings could return. Their task? Large-scale and thorough long-term disinfection with a novel, non-toxic, and super-e ective type of smart antimicrobial sanitizer, invented at the School of Engineering. By early March , assisted by an industrial partnership with Chiaphua Industries Ltd., disinfection of more than day-care centers, elderly homes, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools as well as shopping malls, school buses, churches, and sports training facilities had taken place. The HKUST campus had also been sprayed. Since April , sponsorship by the Lee Hysan Foundation, a private family philanthropic organization that supports meaningful initiatives in sectors including education, health and social welfare in Hong Kong, has taken the technology further into the community by supporting the disinfection of over , caged home units and sub-divided flats that are o en crowded with multiple occupants. The creative mind behind the original technology is Prof. YEUNG King-Lun, Chemical & Biological Engineering and Environment & Sustainability, who has spent more than years devising and optimizing the antimicrobial coating. Spurred initially by the challenges presented during the SARS outbreak in and the need to be prepared should such a crisis present itself again, what started as a novel coating to decontaminate surfaces, such as li buttons and counter tops, has gone on to generate products to combat diseases caused by the presence of pathogenic microorganisms in air and water as well. From the outset, Prof. Yeung has employed safe-by-design principles to ensure the materials used are non-toxic for both people and the environment. A close collaborator on the project is the founding and former Director of HKUST’s Health, Safety and Environment O ce Prof. Joseph KWAN. Prof. Yeung’s Multilevel Antimicrobial Polymer (MAP- ) coating is e ective in inactivating up to . % of highly infectious viruses such as measles, mumps and rubella, and . % of the surrogate feline calicivirus (FCV) – a gold standard for disinfection e ciency and more resistant than coronaviruses such as the one responsible for the COVID- epidemic. In addition, the coating provides long-lasting “smart” protection and surface disinfection against microbial contamination for up to days by self-cleaning and self-disinfecting when touched or contaminated. Prof. Yeung has described this as “closing the loop on surface disinfection”. Odorless and transparent, the versatile coating can be used on metals, concrete, wood, glass, and plastics, as well as fabrics, leathers, and textiles. According to the Technical Standard for Disinfection issued by the National Health Commission in Mainland China, the coating has E Safe and sanitized Cover Story 14 IN FOCUS
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