AsianScientist (Dec. 15, 2011) – Imagine jeans, sweats, or socks that clean and de-odorize themselves when hung on a clothesline in the sun or draped on a balcony railing.
Scientists are reporting the development of a new cotton fabric that cleans itself of stains and bacteria when exposed to sunlight.
Chinese researchers Mingce Long and Deyong Wu report in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces that their fabric uses a coating made from a compound of titanium dioxide, the white material used in everything from white paint to foods to sunscreen lotions.
Titanium dioxide breaks down dirt and kills microbes when exposed to some types of light. It already has found uses in self-cleaning windows, kitchen and bathroom tiles, odor-free socks and other products.
While self-cleaning cotton fabrics have been made in the past, the authors say they self-clean thoroughly only when exposed to ultraviolet rays. So they set out to develop a new cotton fabric that cleans itself when exposed to visible light.
In the report, the authors coated cotton fabric with nanoparticles made from a compound of titanium dioxide and nitrogen, and showed that the N-TiO2 coated fabric removed an orange dye stain when exposed to sunlight.
Further dispersing nanoparticles composed of silver and iodine accelerated the discoloration process, and the coating remained intact after washing and drying, the study showed.
The article can be found at: Wu D et al. (2011) Realizing Visible-Light-Induced Self-Cleaning Property of Cotton through Coating N-TiO2 Film and Loading AgI Particles.
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Source: American Chemical Society.
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