Fast and Effective Deactivation of Human Coronavirus with Copper Oxide Suspensions

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for versatile and robust countermeasures against viral threats. A wide range of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can be deactivated by metal and metal-oxide surface coatings. However, such coatings are expensive and cannot easily be retrofitted to existing infrastructure. Low-cost materials to halt the propagation of a variety of viruses must be produced with minimal quantities of expensive precursors. In this regard, we show that commercially available copper oxide nanoparticle suspensions can deactivate more than 99.55% of the human coronavirus 229E in 30 min, confirming the particles' efficiency as a fast antiviral material.