DiOX, part of Liquid-Nano, a global company which develops protective coatings using emerging nanotechnologies, has produced high performance fabric coatings which offer water and oil repellency as well as anti-viral properties.  Diox’ entire product portfolio is now being made available through Kem-Color, in Istanbul, Turkey.

“The coatings include a flagship DiOX D1, a carbon free (CØ) DWR coating which has been independently tested to AATCC22 giving exemplary water repellent performance up to 40 washes, DiOX says.  “The nano-scale Silica Dioxide technology has been developed to be applied as a finishing chemical either through pad or spray and DiOX has worked with both mills and machinery manufacturers to ensure simple and easy implementation.”

“DiOX D4 is a QUATS based anti-viral coating that is one of the few treatments that has been independently tested against mammalian coronavirus, which is the closest surrogate to SARS-COVID available,” DiOX adds. “Tests carried out by Cambridge University’s department of chemical engineering and biotechnology have shown that D4 reduces surface virons by 97% within an hour and 99.99% in four hours and continues to be effective up to 20 washes.”

DiOX D4 is already being applied to LiquidNano masks by Akbaslar in Bursa, Turkey.

Dr. Graham Christie, senior lecturer at Cambridge University’s department of chemical engineering and biotechnology oversaw the tests of DiOX D4 and commented: “We followed the industry standard testing for viruses on material (ISO18184:19) but made some critical adaptations to give it a more ‘real-world’ relevance. This included conducting splash tests with the inoculum to mimic sneezing to ensure the tests were as rigorous as possible.”  “We also used a mammalian Coronavirus as the inoculum, although we expect this material will be effective against many viruses, it is this class of viruses that the world is obviously watching right now.”

D4 is also effective against the usual array of bacteria, fungus and mildew making it not only an ideal treatment for apparel fabric but also wider textiles being used in upholstery, carpets and mattresses, explains DiOX.

Commenting on the deal, Kem-Colour GM, Cengiz Kahraman said: “The DiOX product portfolio fits in very well with our current range of finishing chemicals and dyes.  There is no doubt the demand for the products in the DiOX range is significant, and brands are in dire need of proven anti-viral and carbon free DWR so we’re looking forward to a very busy time and we’re ready to go now.”

DiOX is now ready for testing by mills, and independent test results from accredited labs and academic intuitions are all available, the company sayss.  Working with some mills and machinery manufacturers, DiOX is also building a comprehensive library of performance across its products with a number of fabrics and substrates.

Dave Evans, DiOX lead said: “Behind every overnight success is always a lot of hard work and perseverance, which sums up the last 12 months with DiOX.  We are market ready with a commercially compelling portfolio of products which are all based on four main pillars.  ‘EPIC’ stands for Environmental, Performance, Implementation and Cost and in each of these elements we aim to be best-in-class.”

“We are really pleased to form what I am sure will be a highly successful collaboration with Kem-Color and we are on the hunt for territory-exclusive partnerships that can bring DiOX to market.”

www.liquidnano.com