ECO-FRIENDLY PAINT INCORPORATING A COMBINATION OF TEA TREE OIL AND CLOVE ESSENTIAL OIL AS A NATURAL ANTIFUNGAL AGENT AGAINST THE GROWTH OF ASPERGILLUS NIGER

Water-based eco-friendly paints avoid the volatile organic compounds and the synthetic biocides of conventional formulations, but that same absence leaves their films vulnerable to fungal colonisation in warm, humid climates. Silver nanoparticles, the biocide most often used against Aspergillus niger, are effective yet cytotoxic to several human cell lines. Essential oils are a plausible natural substitute, but almost all published work tests them in free form, where the active compounds diffuse unimpeded, rather than locked inside a dried polymer film.A completely randomised design with four treatments and four replicates was applied to painted wooden coupons (2 2 cm): P0, unamended paint (control); P1, paint + 2% tea tree oil; P2, paint + 2% clove essential oil; P3, paint + 1% tea tree oil + 1% clove essential oil. All amended formulations carried 2% Tween 80. Coupons were placed on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar previously inoculated with A. niger and incubated for two weeks at 27-30 °C and roughly 80% relative humidity.