In 2006, "Popular Science" magazine offered an article that claimed we wouldn't have to clean our homes anymore by 2011. That was hopeful, and unfortunately it wasn't true. We still need to clean our homes often. But the piece brought up some good points and was at least forward-thinking in-part. With numerous nanotechnology-based products on the market today, we are able to spend a lot less time cleaning our houses, our attire and our automobiles.
Much of this technology is based on titanium dioxide. When exposed to the ultraviolet rays of daylight, it reacts in a fashion that breaks down dust molecularly and essentially zaps it away. It involves the use of the light in a corresponding way that plants use it in photosynthesis. While green, growing things use sunlight to turn CO2 into oxygen, titanium dioxide uses daylight to turn bacteria into hydrogen, carbon-dioxide and other elements that are broken up into the air rather than remaining on the surface.
As well as its property of breaking down dust using daylight, titanium dioxide also reacts with water. Water beads on its surface, rolling off and collecting any dust and dirt with it as it rolls. This is also known as the lotus-effect, named after the leaves of the lotus plant. The beading on the surface of the leaf causes the water to roll off, essentially washing the trail they follow as they go.
The gigantic advantages of titanium dioxide used as a coating and built into surfaces is that dust won't build up routinely thanks to the photosynthesis-like action, and when it does, it will be washed away because of the water-beading properties found in several common products like car polish. Some landmark buildings around the world have been sprayed with this kind of nanotechnology so as to keep their exteriors cleaner and to reduce the results of time.
The employment of this inside poses an issue right now, due to the need for sunlight. But research is usually moving the process forward.
Much of this technology is based on titanium dioxide. When exposed to the ultraviolet rays of daylight, it reacts in a fashion that breaks down dust molecularly and essentially zaps it away. It involves the use of the light in a corresponding way that plants use it in photosynthesis. While green, growing things use sunlight to turn CO2 into oxygen, titanium dioxide uses daylight to turn bacteria into hydrogen, carbon-dioxide and other elements that are broken up into the air rather than remaining on the surface.
As well as its property of breaking down dust using daylight, titanium dioxide also reacts with water. Water beads on its surface, rolling off and collecting any dust and dirt with it as it rolls. This is also known as the lotus-effect, named after the leaves of the lotus plant. The beading on the surface of the leaf causes the water to roll off, essentially washing the trail they follow as they go.
The gigantic advantages of titanium dioxide used as a coating and built into surfaces is that dust won't build up routinely thanks to the photosynthesis-like action, and when it does, it will be washed away because of the water-beading properties found in several common products like car polish. Some landmark buildings around the world have been sprayed with this kind of nanotechnology so as to keep their exteriors cleaner and to reduce the results of time.
The employment of this inside poses an issue right now, due to the need for sunlight. But research is usually moving the process forward.
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We may not yet have homes that clean themselves like the story in "Popular Science" anticipated, but we can have just about self-cleaning cars thanks to the nanotechnology used in CeNano.net's Nanotol car polish.
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