Publications & Presentations

Antimicrobial Surface Coatings to Reduce COVID-19 Spread

Physical Sciences Inc. – Zachary D. Whitermore, Dorin V. Preda (PI), Peter A. Warren, Min K. Song, Alex W. Moerlein, Nathan R. Shipley
Boston University/NEIDL – John H. Connor, Scott Seitz
2021 AIChE Annual Meeting, November 2021, Boston, MA

The Air Force has identified an urgent need to reduce COVID 19 contaminant loads in environments
where Airmen operate (e.g., patient transfer mobility aircraft) and thus decrease transmission likelihood. Physical

…
Sciences Inc. (PSI) and National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories at Boston University (NEIDL/BU) are
developing an antimicrobial coating and demonstrate its effectiveness on evacuation litter products and blood pressure monitoring equipment. PSI is coating multiple medical equipment materials with a permanently attached, broad spectrum antimicrobial technology. The coating was previously demonstrated on textile, metal and plastic surfaces for strong attachment and broad spectrum antimicrobial activity against bacteria, spores, fungi and viruses. The coating efficacy for the target surfaces is being demonstrated against a virus panel and other pathogens of interest. The coating is being optimized to achieve high levels of viral reduction within a short amount of time. The robustness of coating in litter operation is being evaluated upon weathering, abrasion, and cleaning. The coating was developed based on prior PSI studies that demonstrated broad spectrum antimicrobial activity of fabric and metal surfaces against bacteria, spores, fungi and viruses. Greater than 99 99.999% kill efficiency was demonstrated against: (a) antibiotic resistant bacteria: C. Diff. both vegetative cells and spores), MRSA , b) sterilization resistant spores ( Bacillus, sp. sp.), (c) clean room bacteria B. atrophaeus ), (d) Gram positive bacteria S. Aureus, S. Epidermis ), (e) Gram negative bacteria ( E.Coli ), (f) fungus C. Albicans ) and (g) non enveloped viruses ( MS2 ). Biocompatibility of fabric coupons was also demonstrated with no cytotoxicity or skin irritation. Results to date indicate strong attachment of the antimicrobial coating to surfaces of NATO evacuation litter and blood pressure cuff materials. The coating process was optimized to provide uniform and high density coverage across all materials. Formulations for both bath and spray coating processes have been developed. All coated materials showed antiviral activity high efficacy (up to 5.5 log reduction, >99.999% kill efficiency) against a COVID 19 surrogate, Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). The antiviral efficacy was demonstrated by qualitative microscopy/imaging experiments as well as by quantitative plague forming assays. Various surfaces including litter bedding, litter poles, litter handles, litter straps and blood pressure cuff fabrics were demonstrated for antiviral activity with high efficacy.

Expand

Acknowledgement of Support and Disclaimer: This material is based upon work supported by the USAF Research Laboratory under Contract No. FA8649 20 C 0231.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Air Force.

PDF icon Download PDF

Antimicrobial Surface Coatings to Reduce COVID-19 Spread

Physical Sciences Inc. – Zachary D. Whitermore, Dorin V. Preda (PI), Peter A. Warren, Min K. Song, Alex W. Moerlein, Nathan R. Shipley
Boston University/NEIDL – John H. Connor, Scott Seitz
2021 AIChE Annual Meeting, November 2021, Boston, MA

The Air Force has identified an urgent need to reduce COVID 19 contaminant loads in environments
where Airmen operate (e.g., patient transfer mobility aircraft) and thus decrease transmission likelihood. Physical
Sciences Inc. (PSI) and National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories at Boston University (NEIDL/BU) are

…
developing an antimicrobial coating and demonstrate its effectiveness on evacuation litter products and blood pressure monitoring equipment. PSI is coating multiple medical equipment materials with a permanently attached, broad spectrum antimicrobial technology. The coating was previously demonstrated on textile, metal and plastic surfaces for strong attachment and broad spectrum antimicrobial activity against bacteria, spores, fungi and viruses. The coating efficacy for the target surfaces is being demonstrated against a virus panel and other pathogens of interest. The coating is being optimized to achieve high levels of viral reduction within a short amount of time. The robustness of coating in litter operation is being evaluated upon weathering, abrasion, and cleaning. The coating was developed based on prior PSI studies that demonstrated broad spectrum antimicrobial activity of fabric and metal surfaces against bacteria, spores, fungi and viruses. Greater than 99 99.999% kill efficiency was demonstrated against: (a) antibiotic resistant bacteria: C. Diff. both vegetative cells and spores), MRSA , b) sterilization resistant spores ( Bacillus, sp. sp.), (c) clean room bacteria B. atrophaeus ), (d) Gram positive bacteria S. Aureus, S. Epidermis ), (e) Gram negative bacteria ( E.Coli ), (f) fungus C. Albicans ) and (g) non enveloped viruses ( MS2 ). Biocompatibility of fabric coupons was also demonstrated with no cytotoxicity or skin irritation. Results to date indicate strong attachment of the antimicrobial coating to surfaces of NATO evacuation litter and blood pressure cuff materials. The coating process was optimized to provide uniform and high density coverage across all materials. Formulations for both bath and spray coating processes have been developed. All coated materials showed antiviral activity high efficacy (up to 5.5 log reduction, >99.999% kill efficiency) against a COVID 19 surrogate, Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). The antiviral efficacy was demonstrated by qualitative microscopy/imaging experiments as well as by quantitative plague forming assays. Various surfaces including litter bedding, litter poles, litter handles, litter straps and blood pressure cuff fabrics were demonstrated for antiviral activity with high efficacy.

Expand

Acknowledgement of Support and Disclaimer: This material is based upon work supported by the USAF Research Laboratory under Contract No. FA8649 20 C 0231.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Air Force.

PDF icon Download PDF

High Yield and Economical Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Coal Ash

Bryan Sharkey, Dorin Preda, David Gamliel, Prakash B. Joshi, Jeffrey Yee, Russell Lambert, James C. Hower, John G. Groppo, Todd Beers, and Mike Schrock
2021 AIChE Annual Meeting, November 7-12, 2021 - Boston, MA

DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF UNIT OPERATIONS LABS AND PILOT PLANTS

Acknowledgement: This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Award DE FE0027167.
Disclaimer: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

PDF icon Download PDF

Atmospheric Water Extraction Enabled by Smart Moisture Absorbing Foams (SMAFs)

Peter Warren, Dorin Preda, Sean Torrez, John Kidd, Cameron McConnell, Travis Emery, Caitlin Bien, Russell Lambert, Zachary Whitermore, Jacob Miske, Tiffany Yu, John Grimble,
Jeffrey Yee, and Bryan Sharkey - Physical Sciences Inc.; Todd Emrick - University of Massachusetts Amherst; Ian Norris and Paul Smith - Cascade Designs Inc.
AiChe Annual Meeting, November 7-11, 2021, Boston, MA

Primary Objective Develop a man portable system capable of extracting potable drinking water from air, obviating the need for costly and dangerous transportation (Expeditionary Track).

TA1 Goal: Create a new and revolutionary class of sorbents that have high capacity, rapid water uptake and release sorbed water by compression enabled switching from hydrophilic to hydrophobic state.

…

TA2 Goal: Design, construct and optimize a system capable of meeting the DARPA SWaP and output requirements by leveraging the SMAF compressive release capability developed in TA1.

Expand

This material is based upon work supported by Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) under Contract No. HR001121C0032. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA).

PDF icon Download PDF

TDLAS Leak Detection Fixed, Portable and Aerial Platforms

Milton Heath III, HEATH CONSULTANTS INC. and Mickey Frish, PHYSICAL SCIENCES INC.
4C Conference, Austin, TX, August 18, 2021

Monitor, map, and measure methane emitted by leakage from Natural Gas infrastructure

PDF icon Download PDF

Broadband, High-Efficiency, Large-Aperture Metalenses in the Visible

David Woolf, Joe Goodwin, Joel Hensley (PSI), Jonathan Fan, Anton Ovcharenko, Mingkun Chen, Peter Phan (Stanford)
OSA Optical Design and Fabrication Congress
27 June 2021 – 01 July 2021
OSA Virtual Event
Flat Optics and Metasurfaces III (FTu2C)

We developed a design for a high efficiency, broadband metalens
–Used a heuristic approach, based on mature diffractive optic design methods
–> 90% transmission efficiency in each of the red, green and blue color bands
–Maintains performance out to > 10 10°AOI

…

•Metalens can be used to correct aberrations in multi element optical systems
–Corrective doublets
–Multi

Acknowledgement of Support and Disclaimer
This material is based upon work supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under Contract No. 140D0420C0065. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); or its Contracting Agent, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Interior Business Center, Acquisition Services Directorate, Division III.
This material is based upon work supported by the DARPA STTR Program Office under Contract No. W31P4Q-21-C-0031. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the DARPA STTR Program Office.

Expand

©2021 Physical Sciences Inc. This paper was presented at the OSA Optical Design and Fabrication Congress, June 27 - July 1, 2021, OSA Virtual Event and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA.

PDF icon Download PDF