Quaternary ammonium-based coating of textiles is effective against bacteria and viruses with a low risk to human health

While the global healthcare system is slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, new multi-drug-resistant pathogens are emerging as the next threat. To tackle these challenges there is a need for safe and sustainable antiviral and antibacterial functionalized materials. Here we develop an 'easy-to-apply' procedure for the surface functionalization of textiles, rendering them antiviral and antibacterial and assessing the performance of these textiles. A metal-free quaternary ammonium-based coating was applied homogeneously and non-covalently to hospital curtains. Abrasion, durability testing, and aging resulted in little change in the performance of the treated textile. Additionally, qualitative and quantitative antibacterial assays on Staphylococcus aureus , Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumanii revealed excellent antibacterial activity with a CFU reduction of 98–100% within only 4 h of exposure. The treated curtain was aged 6 months before testing. Similarly, the antiviral activity tested according to ISO-18184 with murine hepatitis virus (MHV) showed > 99% viral reduction with the functionalized curtain. Also, the released active compounds of the coating 24 ± 5 µg mL −1 revealed no acute in vitro skin toxicity (IC 50 : 95 µg mL −1 ) and skin sensitization. This study emphasizes the potential of safe and sustainable metal-free textile coatings for the rapid antiviral and antibacterial functionalization of textiles.