Publication of peer reviewed scientific paper

RNS Number : 8354E

Directa Plus PLC

12 July 2021

 

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12 July 2021

Directa Plus plc

("Directa Plus" or the "Company")

Publication of Scientific Paper by Peer Reviewed Journal iScience

Directa Plus (AIM: DCTA), a leading producer and supplier of graphene nanoplatelets based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, is pleased to announce that iScience has published a scientific paper titled "Graphene Nanoplatelet and Graphene Oxide Functionalization of Face Mask Materials Inhibits Infectivity of Trapped SARS-CoV-2".  iScience is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary open-access journal that publishes basic and applied research that advances a specific field across the life, physical, and earth sciences.

The paper provides scientific evidence that the Company's G+® graphene nanomaterials and those from graphene oxide present a critical opportunity to significantly increase face mask efficacy.  In relation to the anti-SARS CoV2 capability of Directa Plus' G+® graphene, the paper certifies that G+® filter fabric treated with PU G+® can inactivate 97% of the virus while G+® cotton can inactivate 99% of the virus.

The Company's pristine G+® graphene is manufactured in a sustainable manner, without the use of chemicals, by exploiting water and mechanical treatment and is easily scalable.  Combined with a process yield of 100%, G+® graphene is perfectly aligned to today's large supply chain needs.  The production of graphene oxide is significantly more complex and expensive, involving the use of large amounts of chemicals.  To date, the Company has treated and supplied more than 240,000 meters of G+® graphene fabrics and produced and delivered more than 1 million G+® filters to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The antibacterial and antiviral properties of the Directa's G+® pristine graphene nanoplatelets represent significant opportunities for Directa Plus in textile and biomedical applications.  The efficacy of G+® and its non-toxic and sustainable production characteristics overcome the problems of the current state-of-the-art solutions that are based on metal-ion or halogen treatments, which could be dangerous to human health and detrimental to the environment.

Market demand for inherently antimicrobial (i.e. both antibacterial and antiviral) surfaces and components is significant and growing¹.  Directa Plus is working on a number of different applications to exploit the antimicrobial properties of G+®including apparel, upholstery and automotive applications, as well as composite and biomedical materials.

¹ See for example https://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/antimicrobial-coatings-market and Antimicrobial Coatings Market Size and Share | Industry Forecast - 2026 (gminsights.com)

The paper is available at https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(21)00756-2.  The authors include Massimiliano Papi and Valentina Palmieri (Catholic University Rome), Flavio De Maio and Gabriele Babini (Gemelli Polyclinic Rome) Laura Rizzi and Giulio Cesareo (Directa Plus) and, Patrick Soon-Shiong and Patricia Spilman (Nantworks).

Commenting on the paper, Giulio Cesareo, Founder and CEO of Directa Plus said: "Science underpins all of our work on applications, as this peer reviewed paper demonstrates.  Our mission in this market is to offer customers the widest possible protection and we are already working on testing other types of bacteria and viruses to achieve that goal."

For further information please visit http://www.directa-plus.com/ or contact:

Directa Plus plc	[phone]
Giulio Cesareo, CEO Giorgio Bonfanti, CFO
Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	[phone]
Neil McDonald Pete Lynch
N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Rick Thompson Phil Davies
Tavistock (Financial PR and IR)	[phone]
Simon Hudson Heather Armstrong

About Directa Plus

Our focus is principally on the two sectors in which we have strong commercial advantage through developed and launched products and a technological lead: environmental (based on our Grafysorber® product), textiles (based on our G+® products) and, more recently, lithium-sulphur batteries.  In addition, we will continue to pursue opportunities in elastomers and composites (including tyres and asphalt), also using our G+® products.  All our products are hypoallergenic, non-toxic and sustainably produced.

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