A team of researchers have developed a 3D-printed material that can kill the Covid-19 virus.

According to an article on The Engineer, the team from Wolverhampton University hope that the material will be able to be used in the production of face mask filters and filtration systems.

The production of this material was a result of an investigation amongst the Additive Manufacturing Functional Materials research group (AMFM) at the university. They wanted to research antiviral materials and explore how they could combat transmission of the virus via a surface or in the air.

The material, which is comprised of copper, silver and tungsten, was produced using a 3D printing technique called SLM – selective laser melting.

“Our antiviral material displayed a 100 per cent viral inactivation within five hours against a biologically-safe sample of Covid-19. This is a significant improvement on the previous copper coating results as all of the Covid-19 virus is eliminated,” said John Robinson, who is one of the leaders of the study.

The team at Wolverhampton University partnered with a group from the Catholic University of Valencia’s Biomaterials and Bioengineering Lab during the process of this study.