Corning Guardiant, one of Corning's more recent innovations, is an additive compatible with paints, coatings, and other surface materials. With Guardiant, applying the antimicrobial power of copper to walls, furniture, doors, kitchen cabinets, and other surfaces can be as simple as a coat of paint.
Guardiant is mixed in to paints during the manufacturing process and designed to impart the antimicrobial power of copper without a metallic look and feel. This is made possible by a glass-ceramic composition invented by Corning scientists that traps copper ions inside a glass matrix and keeps the most effective form of copper readily available for reducing harmful germs.
"Guardiant wouldn't be feasible without Corning's expertise in glass and ceramic science," said Joydeep Lahiri, division vice president and program director, Specialty Surfaces, Corning Incorporated. "Our Emerging Innovations Group is always seeking new ways to apply our material science expertise to new product categories to innovate and solve problems. The pandemic has highlighted our vulnerability to germs, and we are pleased to see such interest in coatings formulated with Guardiant at a time of high anxiety around contaminated surfaces."
In November 2020, Corning announced that paint and coatings containing Corning Guardiant were shown to kill more than 99.9% of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in two hours or less using test methods approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Prior to making claims in the United States against harmful germs such as SARS-CoV-2, finished products incorporating Corning Guardiant must first be registered with the U.S. EPA. Other countries have different regulatory requirements and Corning is assisting customers across the world launch this new category of paint products. Paints featuring Guardiant technology have been launched by several customers in Asia.
In addition to the SARS-CoV-2 results, Corning has also published research on Corning Guardiant demonstrating kill of other bacteria and viruses with greater than 99.9% efficacy in under two hours, including gram positive bacteria (such as Staphylococcus aureus), gram negative bacteria (such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa), and non-enveloped viruses (such as murine norovirus, which belongs to the hardest-to-kill class of viruses in terms of its susceptibility to disinfectants).
Being recognized as a note-worth innovation by the Edison Awards organization is another milestone for Corning Guardiant. According to the awards website, an Edison Award is "one of the highest accolades a company can receive in the name of innovation and business success." Winners are chosen by senior business executives, academics, designers, and innovation leaders.
Ryan Bottini, Corning® Guardiant® product line manager, Corning Incorporated, "This award emphasizes the timeliness of the innovation and recognizes that it is a step-change improvement in a category with a lot of promise. We hope it is the first of many validations Guardiant receives from industries, regulators, and consumers in 2021."
