Panjab University faculty files patent for cost-effective disinfectant

The disinfectant will be especially useful to disinfect malls, hospitals and institutes with large footfall as it is cost-effective and has no side effects

A faculty member of the chemistry department at Panjab University has filed a patent for a cost effective disinfectant which can effectively sterilise mobile phones and car keys.

Dr Gurpreet Kaur, assistant professor at the department, has filed the patent through Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), DST, government of India, which deals with metallic vesicles (fluid filled micro particles) using photodynamic therapy (phototherapy involving light and a photosensitising chemical substance) to kill microbes.

Dr Kaur said the disinfectant will be especially useful to disinfect malls, hospitals and institutes with large footfall as it was cost-effective and had no side effects.

“We are making attempts to prepare screening cabinets using this process that can be installed at the entry of the departments to sterilise mobile phones, car keys and other things using this particular formulation. The team is working on inviting collaborations with some local industries,” she said.

Dr Kaur has been working in this field of antimicrobial surfactants (a substance which tends to reduce the surface tension of a liquid in which it is dissolved) from the last nine years and has more than 50 publications to her credit.