Innovation News Network investigates the innovative Q-Field coating, designed to act as an antimicrobial agent for more hygienic surfaces and practices.
When you hear it for the first time, you squint. A clear coating that can be wrapped around walls and touchpoints that continuously knocks back bacteria, viruses and mold in the background under normal light? No silver, no harsh biocides, nothing that ‘leaches’ into your room.
Q-Field can be used in hospitals, GP surgeries, care homes, dentists and veterinarians and provides cleaner, safer air and surfaces by default.
Sounds like marketing alchemy, but that’s exactly why Q-Field is making waves. It asks us to imagine hygiene not as a once-a-day event, but as a steady, invisible process that occurs continuously, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Below is the plain English version. No white coat required.
What is photocatalytic action that can be understood in 1 minute?
Think of Q-Field as a solar power supplement to your wall. However, the “sun” can be any normal indoor lighting. The coating contains small minerals (semiconductors) that wake up when exposed to light. Once awakened, they immediately produce a short-lived “cleansing spark” (reactive species) on the surface of the earth. These sparks destroy the outer layer of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, molds, and spores), making them unable to survive or reproduce.
Q-Field is like a self-cleaning oven, but for microscopic dirt, it works at room temperature using your existing light. And unlike detergents that only clean the moment you use them, this coating continues to work 24/7. It works all day long under light and lasts until night.
What not: Fragrances, pesticide sprayers, or bleach films. Nothing is “sprayed” into the air. This action occurs at the earth’s surface and at the interface between the atmosphere and the earth’s surface.
What happens in the dark?
What surprises people here is that the surface doesn’t go to sleep the moment the lights go out. After being “charged” by light during the day, the Q field holds a store of surface energy. Think of small charges stored and activated sites. Its remaining activation continues to work throughout the night.
Why Q Field is different from conventional photocatalyst paints
Classic photocatalytic coatings required UV light (think sunlight or special lamps) to switch on.
Most indoor spaces do not contain much UV light, reducing the effectiveness of UV light sources.
The trick with Q-Field is that it is designed to work with all visible light, including regular LED and fluorescent lights found in hospitals, clinics, and homes. That is, it is “on” when the room is occupied (in the absence of special lighting equipment), works all day long (daylight, overhead lighting, task lighting are all important) and is protected until night thanks to the residual “charge”. Achieving this without the use of silver or quaternary biocides also reduces reliance on chemical additives, making the product better for people, pets, and the planet.
By tuning the particles (think “bandgap tuning” and surface chemistry), the Q-field shifts from UV-only catalysis to visible light catalysis. Some of these photo-excited charges are trapped on the surface long enough to maintain its antimicrobial effect after the lights are turned off, like the warmth that lingers on a brick after sunset.
The research group has reported that visible light catalysts have a similar “storage and continue working” effect, maintaining their activity even in the dark after pre-irradiation.
“Safer Spaces” in real life: Where this really comes in handy
In hospitals and medical services, it supports high-touch zones such as bed rails, door plates, monitors, and the tops of workstations, as well as “wet” corners where condensation and biofilms are more likely to form. This coating provides continuous background suppression between cleaning rounds and hand hygiene moments, with residual nighttime effects covering overtime.
In nursing homes and long-term care facilities, where residents spend most of their time indoors with circulating air, this reduces the microbial load on walls and furniture, adding a passive layer of protection without requiring new routines for staff. Dentists and veterinary clinics deal with intermittent aerosols and droplets. A light-activated surface that continues to function after the appointment ends is a safety net for staff and the next patient.
Additionally, in mold-prone rooms, it breaks down the organic film that mold feeds on and destroys surface spores, helping to keep newly renovated spaces that way, primarily during the dark months.
Importantly, Q-Field is not a replacement for cleaning, ventilation, leak fixing, or humidity control. It’s a power multiplier that makes these basics stick.
What about silver and other antimicrobial paints?
The past decade has seen a flood of “antimicrobial” paints that rely on biocides, typically silver (including nanosilver) or quaternary ammonium compounds. Although they can inhibit growth, they work by leaching the active substance, which raises questions about long-term safety, tolerance, and environmental persistence.
Q-Field is taking a different path. No added silver or strong biocides. Its mode is physical and light-driven, not chemical leaching. The manufacturer also describes a stable microscale surface charge effect combined with photocatalysis. Imagine a hostile terrain that is extremely thin for microorganisms.
Nothing “stains” the room. The wall itself becomes a not very comfortable landing pad. Regulators and review bodies have repeatedly cited the exposure and environmental concerns of silver-based additives, which is one reason many buyers are looking for non-leachable alternatives.
Evidence from research and field trials
Function of visible light photocatalyst
Multiple peer-reviewed reviews have described how doped TiO₂ and related materials inactivate bacteria and viruses under normal room light, and laboratory studies have shown efficacy against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria without UV.
Hospitals observe impact on actual surfaces
A controlled hospital ward study found that photocatalytic antimicrobial coatings reduced environmental bioload at touchpoints near patients. Treated surfaces gradually become cleaner and control accumulated contamination.
High-incidence units have seen significant reductions in MRSA infections with the introduction of photocatalysts, proving that these coatings can act as an adjunct to standard infection control measures.
New evaluations continue to report long-term reductions in the presence of pathogens on patient care surfaces after applying antimicrobial (photocatalyst-containing) coatings.
The work “Working in the Dark” is real
Researchers have developed energy-storing (“photo-charged”) photocatalysts that maintain their bactericidal and antiviral activity for hours after the lights are turned off, thanks to trapped charges or redox-active species generated under light. It’s the same carryover effect that the facility needs throughout the night.
How to verify locally
For complex numbers, request or ask for ISO 22196 (bacteria) and ISO 21702 (viruses). Specify approved antifungal protocols for molds. More and more labs are adapting these to dry, real-world exposure conditions, rather than just wet films useful for hospital touchpoints and nursing home furniture.
The bottom line is that visible light photocatalysis is supported in the literature as an effective and low-burden method for controlling microbial loads on surfaces and air-surface interfaces in areas of most concern, such as hospital wards, clinics, nursing homes, dental and veterinary offices.
Q-Field claims to have packaged these science-backed principles into a coating that activates under normal indoor light, retains residual activity in the dark, and evades biocides. (For background features on Q-Field’s approach and deployment, see recent coverage on Innovation News Network).
What Q-Field doesn’t do (and why it’s good news)
Q-Field is not a substitute for hand hygiene, regular cleaning, and air exchange. No chemicals are atomized into the air, and no metal additives are dispersed. No special UV lamp required. Existing lighting becomes a switch. It also doesn’t disrupt the laws of physics. If there is a leak or cold bridge, fix it first. Keep your space cleaner longer with Q-Field.
Its limitations are its strengths. These make the solution simple, compatible with current infection prevention regimes, and resident (including pets) friendly.
Why this is a real big change
Hospitals and care settings are built on a layer of defense: source control → surface hygiene → air quality → behavior.
The Q-field silently strengthens two of those layers, the surface and the thin film of air immediately next to it, at once, continuously strengthens every hour while the lights are on, and has a measurable carryover effect while the lights are off.
Moving from periodic sanitation “peaks” to a flatter, more stable baseline is exactly how we reduce spikes that lead to infection outbreaks, absenteeism, and avoidable harm.
Frankly, photocatalytic coatings are not new. The inflection point is a photocatalytic coating that switches on under normal room light, evades biocides, and retains its charge even during dark hours. That’s the idea of Q Field.
Putting an end to the problem of “too good to be true”
Skepticism is healthy. But sometimes “too good” is just good engineering combined with good housekeeping. Q Field is not magic. It’s material science tailored to the light you’re already using, layered on top of the hygiene you’re already doing. If you regulate the humidity, manage ventilation and clean as usual, the results are a little unrealistic.
So is it too good to be true? It’s too good and it’s true. That evidence will not be published in the brochure. That’s reflected in the number of swabs, staff sick days, outbreak records, and the quiet comfort of a room that stays fresh longer.
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