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Anti-microbial materials

  • US 5,837,275 A
  • Filed: 06/02/1995
  • Issued: 11/17/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/19/1992
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A fine grain anti-microbial material, comprising:

  • one or more anti-microbial metals selected from the group consisting of Ag, Au, Pt, Pd, Ir, Sn, Cu, Sb, Bi, and Zn, or an alloy or compound thereof, said metals having a grain size less than 200 nm, and being characterized by sufficient atomic disorder such that the material, in contact with an alcohol or a water based electrolyte, provides a sustained release of atoms, ions, molecules or clusters containing at least one of the anti-microbial metals at an enhanced rate relative to its normal ordered crystalline state and at a concentration sufficient to provide a localized anti-microbial effect, wherein the atomic disorder in the material provides irregularities in surface topography and inhomogeneities in structure on a nanometer scale and is caused by high concentrations of at least one of point defects in a crystal lattice, vacancies, line defects comprising dislocations, interstitial atoms, amorphous regions and grain and sub grain boundaries, relative to a normal ordered crystalline state for the anti-microbial metal.

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