Dear Colleagues,

The emergence of COVID-19 has resulted in profound global health challenges. SARS-CoV-2 has now spread throughout the world, with the result being the COVID-19 pandemic. Over a million lives have been lost while waiting for effective antivirals and vaccines. The sanitisers, washing liquids, facemasks, PPE, and numerous items are currently our only weapons, and their antiviral capabilities are far from comprehensive.

SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the Betacoronavirus genus that also includes SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Given its RNA genome and propensity for mutation, the consequent emergence of resistant viral strains is expected upon prolonged use of antivirals, which could compromise the efficacy of antiviral therapies, and probably vaccines as well, within a very short period. Antiviral nanomaterials, with their unique physiochemical properties, may be sources of novel antiviral alternatives that can contribute to the development of a wide spectrum of various antiviral agents in the fight against COVID-19.

In addition, we must not ignore secondary infections that are largely caused by AMR due to the exposure to deadly “superbugs” as part of hospital-acquired infections when COVID-19 patients are hospitalised. All of these considerations heighten the need for antiviral nanoparticles that effectively block the development and spread of COVID-19 which, to date, has proven uncontainable and continues to spread throughout the world.

This Special Issue of Nanomaterials on antiviral nanoparticles (AVNPs)/nanomaterials intends to promote high-level research outcomes to inspire exploration and discovery of novel antiviral nanomaterials as alternatives in a collective endeavour to combat the immense challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Focused applications in healthcare and biomedicals are of interest, and the nanoparticles can be of metal, ceramic, polymers, minerals, or organics such as proteins, etc. The objectives are to inactivate or inhibit the pathogenesis of viruses that may infect people and/or animals such as flu, SARS-CoV1/2, or other types of coronaviruses.

Dr. Guogang Ren
Dr. Alberto Falco
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• antiviral nanoparticles
• antiviral materials
• antiviral fabrics
• antiviral films
• flu and coronavirus
• MERS
• SARS-CoV-1
• SARS-CoV-2
• COVID-19
• healthcare
• biomedicals
• hospitals
• face mask
• PPE and filters