Haydale, the advanced materials group, is working with IRPC Public Company (IRPC) to further develop functionalised graphene coated fabric, that Haydale has produced, for medical and related applications. The fabric has been shown to have antibacterial properties and under the deal signed between the two, it will be further tested for antiviral properties.
The agreement has been signed between Haydale Technologies -Thailand (HTT) and IRPC. The agreement is to develop the organic conducting-based printing smart fabric, by using Haydale’s functionalised technology, potentially for medical use and related applications.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Haydale has been developing a functionalised graphene coated fabric. The Thailand Textile Institute (THTI) has carried out tests on the coated fabric that show antibacterial finishes in excess of 99.3 per cent on the textile material after 10 washes (AATCC TM100:2012, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538 and Escherichia Coli DMST 4212 ATCC 25922).
Following tests, an agreement has now been signed with IRPC to develop the functionalised graphene coated fabric for medical use and related applications. These include the development of a new washable functionalised graphene-enhanced fabric mask. The scope of the project will be to focus on the commercial production of fabric and further development will take place to assess additional fabric properties such as Virus Filtration Efficiency (VFE), UV Protection and EMC protection.
The global healthcare PPE industry has an approximate value of $17-19 billion, with huge growth seen in the personal healthcare industry. The graphene coated fabric will provide an additional solution to this industry.
This bespoke ink, developed by Haydale, will be delivered on an exclusive basis for commercial applications. IRPC and HTT have strong confidence that the new graphene coated fabric will be commercially available this year.
Dr. Roman Strauss, vice president at IRPC, said: “Working together with Haydale, we see a substantial opportunity for a swift development of this product in the short time scales we have set ourselves.”
Keith Broadbent, Haydale CEO, added: “Working with IRPC we are able to quickly react to a current industry requirement. It is great to see that these products are benefiting from our core functionalisation process; particularly the antibacterial nature of the inks and the part they can play in the production of healthcare PPE. With the global PPE requirements continuing to grow, we anticipate this project to be very well received and look forward to seeing this progress to commercialisation.”
