Antimicrobial and Antiviral Polymers

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past decade, developing antimicrobial and antiviral polymers has attracted enormous interest. The pandemic, associated with a highly contagious coronavirus, also raises significant demands for such polymers. Improving the health of human beings via reducing the infection caused by various bacteria has become increasingly important. Nowadays, the rapid growth of harmful pathogens and their serious health effects pose a significant challenge to modern society. Infections by pathogenic microorganisms and viruses are of great concern in several areas, such as medical devices, drugs, hospital surfaces/furniture, dental restoration, surgery equipment, health care products, and hygienic applications, including water purification systems, food packaging, and major or domestic appliances. With unique architectures and functional groups, antimicrobial/antiviral polymers often generate high biocidal/virucidal activity without inducing drug resistance while eliminating the leaching-out effects encountered by conventional antimicrobial agents with low molecular weights. The high retention and effective grafting of antimicrobial polymers render various substrates or materials antimicrobial or antiviral, such as cellulose fibers, textiles, composites, and coating materials, which have been extensively used in personal protection equipment (PPE).

This Special Issue, " Antimicrobial and Antiviral Polymers", includes research and review papers concerning the recent advances in preparing antimicrobial/antiviral polymers and antimold resins or composites, antimicrobial/antiviral mechanisms, establishing a structure–property relationship; and applications of antimicrobial and antiviral polymers in food packaging, biomedicine, PPE, healthcare, and environmental fields. In this Special Issue, the strategies pursued for developing antimicrobial and antiviral polymers will be the main focus. The future application of these polymers is anticipated to lead to extremely positive impacts not only at the economic level but also quality of life.

Prof. Dr. Huining Xiao
Prof. Dr. Yuanfeng Pan
Guest Editors

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