So long washing machine! Hello, self-cleaning clothes

July 18th, 2012

Appliance News Laundry

Self-cleaning clothes will give us another reason to smile when the sun is out.

In the future, a sunny day might be all we need to clean our clothes, according to a study by Chinese scientists.

Mingce Long and Deyong Wu have worked to produce a fabric with a coating of nanoparticles that kill bacteria and break down dirt, in other words, they clean. It works when exposed to sunlight, without damaging material.

The nanoparticles – which are a size between molecular and microscopic – are made from a compound of titanium dioxide and nitrogen. Titanium dioxide is found compositions all around us, such as white paint and even sunscreen.

The really nifty part is that the self-cleaning material works when exposed to ordinary sunlight, unlike other scientific studies which have produced similar materials that specifically require UV light.

Imagine laundry day being as easy as throwing the clothes on the line? Or simply walking down the street as your garments clean themselves. Or getting grubby at a picnic and being clean by the time you’re back home. Or kids coming home from sports games sans grass stains?! It sounds too good to be true.

But the Chinese researchers claim their tests show that nano-coated cotton material removed an orange dye stain when it was exposed to sunlight. They say the coating stays intact after washing and drying…though that sort of defeats the purpose.

Exciting news for those at home, perhaps not for AppliancesOnline! 🙂

Having once had to sit on the washing machine to stop it from bouncing into oblivion, Keri is today delighted with the new (smoother running) technologies that make housework easier every day. A self-confessed lazy-bones, Keri seeks out quirky inventions that ease the human workload, such as the robotic vacuum cleaner (wow). And as soon as someone figures out a Jetsons-like self-cleaning house, she will happily lay her pen to rest and retire from appliance journalism. Until then, her pick is a fridge that will tell her smartphone when it's time to pick up more beer on the way home. Magic.

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