THE PROBLEM: In 2020, as the global COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed medical facilities, businesses were trying to find ways to continually disinfect various surfaces. They needed a product that worked continuously and didn't smell bad or give customers headaches. 

THE SOLUTION: Sandia National Laboratories and Lunano, LLC, developed Disinfectant 2.0, which uses tiny particles called porphyrin photosensitizer nanoparticles to disinfect and curb the spread of COVID-19 and other virus outbreaks. Disinfectant 2.0 resulted from an award-winning Sandia invention, a method called Detergent-Assisted Fabrication, which creates certain nanoparticles that release powerful substances that can kill E. coli, staph infection, viruses, bacteria and fungi for years at a time.  

THE TECH TRANSFER MECHANISM: In 2020, a team at Sandia National Laboratories participated in the FedTech Startup Studio, which pairs aspiring entrepreneurs with breakthrough technologies from national laboratories and guides them in launching their own venture. At FedTech, the team from Sandia, led by Hongyou Fan, partnered with Lunano, LLC, CEO and co-founder Bradley Duckworth to commercialize an award-winning technology it had developed to create nanomaterials. However, as the pandemic gained momentum, Fan and Duckworth pivoted to commercialize Detergent-Assisted Fabrication, which they recognized could address urgent disinfection needs during and beyond the pandemic. 

Sandia and FedTech supported Duckworth throughout the commercialization process – securing a licensing agreement, developing a commercial model, establishing the company and building an intellectual property structure.  The team discovered a market for Disinfectant 2.0 among airlines, hotels, restaurants, car service providers and other businesses. In 2021, Sandia licensed the technology to Lunano with exclusive rights through the end of 2024 within the fields of disinfection, sanitization and decontamination; while Lunano holds the patent in these fields of use, the patent has other applications outside of disinfection and sanitation. Lunano’s license is renewable for two additional years to allow Lunano to develop products without the risk of losing its potential customers.  

THE OUTCOMES: Disinfectant 2.0 is expected to enhance disinfectants for households, transportation, restaurants, hotels, and other public and personal spaces. Startup Lunano is the result of a commercialization effort, and it’s now conducting research with large companies to determine how to best integrate the antiviral/antimicrobial technology into their products and into Americans’ everyday lives. This commercialization effort also benefits the Mid-Continent Region because Virginia-based Lunano anticipates it will create about 100 jobs. The Disinfectant 2.0 technology won the 2015 Materials Research Society Fred Kavli Nanoscience Award and an R&D 100 Award in 2018.