What if jeans, socks, etc. clean themselves when they are kept outside? Won't it reduce much of our work and water? Scientists report of the development of such a type of cotton fabric which can clean itself on exposure to sunlight. The report is published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
Mingce Long and Deyong Wu say that the fabric uses a coating made from a compound of Titanium Dioxide(N-TiO2) . Titanium dioxide can break down dirt and kill microbes when left exposed to some types of light. Titanium dioxide finds its use till today in kitchen & bathroom tiles, odour free socks and some other products.
But it has been noted that these fabrics only clean thoroughly on exposure to Ultra-Violet light. Thus it has been decided to develop the fabric such that it cleans itself in all types of light.
In the report published, the demonstration of removal of orange dye stain has been stated, the process being further accelerated by dispensation of nano-particles containing iodine and silver.
The Mechanism:
The visible-light-induced self cleaning property is realised by coating N-TiO2 film and loading Agl Particles simultaneously. The physical properties were characterised by means of XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS and DRS techniques. The visible light photocatalytic activities of the materials were evaluated using degradation of methyl orange.
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