Every summer, millions of anti-odor products are used to reduce smell and body odor. However, these coatings usually are very not very bio-friendly since they include silver and some extra chemical ingredients to bind them.
Silver is an antimicrobial ingredient as some already might know, and it is usually used to either kill the bacteria that causes the smell or fill the pores to make these inhabitable for bacteria.
Now, researchers at the “University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Engineering” have published research titled “Rapid assembly of colorless antimicrobial and anti-odor coatings from polyphenols and silver” in Scientific Reports on how to use natural ingredients to make these coatings easier, cheaper, and bio-friendly.
How do anti-odor and chocolate link?
The key ingredient that researchers have put to use is polyphenols. Polyphenols are found in many staining food items such as chocolate, wine, cherries, and everything that might leave hard-to-clean dirty spots on clothes. Silver does not react with the body, and polyphenols are found in food, so, you might guess that the result would be a natural product.
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Researchers used their binding properties to invent a method of binding silver to the product. This also means a new binding method for silver that is natural, easy to apply, cheap, and with pretty easy-to-find materials as well.
Another application for this particular finding is to use these in other industries such as clothing, cleaning products, and basically anywhere you want to put antibacterial trace silver to provide hygiene. The researchers also mention that this anti-odor coating is also very strong against washing and can last up to “10 washes”. Overall, it provides a nice commercial solution for manufacturers and natural relief for buyers, which makes it beneficial for practical research.
A lot of products we use nowadays contain countless amounts of chemicals. Making these natural and sustainable while keeping up with the quality is important.
As you may remember from our recent article titled “99.4 Percent of Chemicals Are Unsustainable, New Research Suggests“, the industry for chemicals seems to be in need of new production methods and research. It is very reassuring to see good steps for it.
