Disclosed herein is a nano-coating platform that is designed to ‘capture’ and ‘kill’ (i.e. inactivate) virus species to prevent surface to surface contamination/transmission and thereby the spread of novel viruses. The platform is comprised of alternating layers of charged polymers (producing a multi-layer coating). The cationic layer may be grafted with oligomeric species, chosen to bind strongly to unique/specific virus surface features, thereby mediating capture of the virus (with the choice of oligomeric species allowing generalization to a given virus). Natural light (excitation) to UV (local emission) up-converting nanoparticles are seeded into the anionic layer and mediate the inactivation (‘killing’) of the bound virus species.