She has already collaborated with a major medical-supply company to prove that the nanocrystals can be cheaply incorporated into manufacturing processes.
To produce such screens, Dr Hou and his team developed a way to bind tiny " nanocrystals" of lead-halide perovskites into a specially treated synthetic glass composite.
Then a student in her lab had a eureka moment: Why not dip cotton fabric in a solution of the nanocrystals to keep bacteria from sticking to the fabric?