One of the world’s most annoying forms of bacterial infection could soon see a decrease in prevalence with materials tech company Sparc Technologies (ASX: SPN) identifying antibacterial properties in graphene that kills E-Coli.

The testing was undertaken in collaboration with Flinders University in Adelaide where results indicated that an epoxy coating of graphene-based additives mostly eliminated the presence of Escherichia Coli (E-Coli). In one case, the testing evaluated complete destruction of the E-Coli bacteria in comparison to the same coating type containing no graphene.

“Once again, graphene is continuing to demonstrate its unique properties that impart significant improvements to the graphene applications that Sparc is developing,” said Sparc Technologies CEO, Mike Bartels.

“Following on from the very impressive results of earlier work achieved with anti-corrosive coatings, we are now seeing outstanding results with antimicrobial coatings, which encourages us to develop a product for a multitude of anti-microbial coatings applications in multi-billion dollar markets.”

Sparc has already identified the ability of graphene coating to substantially reduce natural corrosion on steel whereas this application has a more significant use case in every-day life. Such an ability to maximise antibacterial properties could be applied to surfaces prone to bacteria such as; hospitals, public areas, food preparation facilities, drinking water systems, antifouling for shipping, and coating for wastewater systems.

With these highly encouraging results, Sparc now intends to increase testing into other common bacterias and viruses.

When contracted, E-Coli infections commonly result in severe diarrhea, nausea and vomiting which can be life-threatening in infants and people with compromised immune systems.