Normally, the glass used on the interiors and exteriors is considered as one of the safest surfaces form the point of view of hygiene. It is assumed that the solid surface of the glass provides a durable, easy to clean and non-fading surface which may not allow bacteria and viruses to grow on it. But actually, it is not true. In fact, microbes or microorganisms found in the environment can accumulate on the surface of the glass used on external windows, grow there, and spread infections among humans. The microbes grown up on the glass on the exterior of any building can cause a number of infectious diseases. These diseases can be controlled only by slowing down the growth of the bacteria and viruses by using antibacterial glass on the exteriors as well as interiors.
Reasons for increasing risk of bacterial attack
The increasing popularity of touchscreen devices like mobile phones and tablets has increased the risk of spreading infectious diseases as their glass screens are always exposed to the microbes in the environment. Today, everyone likes to see movies and other interesting images moving on the screens of these touchscreen devices wherever they go, outdoors or indoors. Along with images these devices are also used for accessing directories, interactive menus of the restaurants, and automatically operated teller machines, etc.
The main drawback of using these interactive devices is that the bacteria built-up on the glass screens of these devices can cause bad smell and stains on them.
Solution for the problem of smell and stain on touchscreen devices
To get rid of the problem of odor and stains on the touchscreen, the scientists working in the glass industry are creating thin covers made of glass, embedded with ionic silver, for the touchscreen devices. The stains and odor caused by the bacteria on the touchscreen can be removed up to 99.9% with the help of the traces of silver ions on the surface of the cover of the touchscreen. In this way, the glass used in making the cover of touchscreen devices is an antibacterial glass. The silver ions are not coated on this glass but they are included in its composition.
Properties of antibacterial glass
The ionic silver in the composition of the glass makes it antibacterial glass because for long ionic silver is considered as an antibacterial element by nature. But, now it is being used in the composition of the glass to make it antibacterial glass for producing thin glass cover for the touchscreen devices, after a long process of research and development.
Today, the antibacterial glass used in the cover of touchscreen devices is improving the performance f the devices along with removing the bacteria and viruses from the screen of the devices after long research, and testing.
Introduction of antibacterial glass in the market
The antibacterial glass was introduced in the market in 2014. Since then this glass is being used not only by the industry of touchscreen devices but also by a number of other industries including hospitality, banking, and healthcare, etc. This glass is also used in the industries producing touchscreen devices used in various types of operations.
Thus, antibacterial glass is tough on microbes as it helps in eliminating the effect of bacteria on it.