Severe acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and
its variants have rapidly spread worldwide, causing coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) with numerous infected cases and millions of deaths. Therefore,
developing approaches to fight against COVID-19 is currently the most
priority goal of the scientific community. As a sustainable solution
to stop the spread of the virus, a green dip-coating method is utilized
in the current work to prepare antiviral Ag-based coatings to treat
cotton and synthetic fabrics, which are the base materials used in
personal protective equipment such as gloves and gowns. Characterization
results indicate the successful deposition of silver (Ag) and stabilizers
on the cotton and polypropylene fiber surface, forming Ag coatings.
The deposition of Ag and stabilizers on cotton and etched polypropylene
(EPP) fabrics is dissimilar due to fiber surface behavior. The obtained
results of biological tests reveal the excellent antibacterial property
of treated fabrics with large zones of bacterial inhibition. Importantly,
these treated fabrics exhibit an exceptional antiviral activity toward
human coronavirus OC43 (hCoV-OC43), whose infection could be eliminated
up to 99.8% when it was brought in contact with these fabrics after
only a few tens of minutes. Moreover, the biological activity of treated
fabrics is well maintained after a long period of up to 40 days of
post-treatment.