DMU have developed a catalyst that can be used as a disc inserted into contact lens cases for the one step hydrogen peroxide disinfection of contact lens. It is found that unlike the two-step hydrogen peroxide disinfection system that there is a risk of being infected with acanthamoeba as these are not sufficiently disinfected in the 6 hours of disinfection in this system. Infection with acanthamoeba although rare is very difficult to treat and quite often lead to blindness or the need for a corneal transplant. Our catalyst activates the hydrogen peroxide to further reduce the number of surviving amoebae to within this six-hour timeframe, thus reducing the risk of infection.
Image showing a normal eye and a Acanthamoeba-infected eye
The DMU catalyst has many uses such as wastewater treatment to degrade pollutants, disinfection, adsorption of metal cations and metal oxyanions. It is also now being used as an oxidation catalyst to make fine chemicals, drugs and biodiesel from vegetable and animal oils.