In 2006, "Popular Science" magazine ran a story claiming that by 2011 we would no longer have to clean our houses. That was hopeful, and sadly it was not true. We still need to clean our houses frequently. But the text brought up some good points and was at least forward-thinking in-part. With many nanotechnology-based products for sale today, we are able to spend a lot less time cleaning our houses, our clothes and our cars.
Much of this technology is based on titanium dioxide. When exposed to the ultraviolet rays of daylight, it reacts in a way that breaks down dirt molecularly and essentially zaps it away. It involves the use of the light in a similar way that plants use it in photosynthesis. While green, growing things use sunlight to turn CO2 into oxygen, titanium dioxide uses sunlight to turn bacteria into hydrogen, CO2 and other elements that are broken up into the air instead of remaining on the surface.
In addition to its property of breaking down dust using sunlight, titanium dioxide also reacts with water. Water beads on its surface, rolling off and collecting any dirt and dust with it as it rolls. This is also called 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, fundamentally washing the trail they follow as they're going.
The gigantic benefits of titanium dioxide used as a coating and built into surfaces is that dust will not build up normally thanks to the photosynthesis-like action, and when it does, it's going to be washed away thanks to the water-beading properties found in numerous common products like car polish. Some landmark buildings around the world have been sprayed with this type of nanotechnology so as to keep their surfaces cleaner and to reduce the effect of time.
The usage of this inside poses an issue at this time, due to the need for sunlight. But research is always moving the method forward.
Much of this technology is based on titanium dioxide. When exposed to the ultraviolet rays of daylight, it reacts in a way that breaks down dirt molecularly and essentially zaps it away. It involves the use of the light in a similar way that plants use it in photosynthesis. While green, growing things use sunlight to turn CO2 into oxygen, titanium dioxide uses sunlight to turn bacteria into hydrogen, CO2 and other elements that are broken up into the air instead of remaining on the surface.
In addition to its property of breaking down dust using sunlight, titanium dioxide also reacts with water. Water beads on its surface, rolling off and collecting any dirt and dust with it as it rolls. This is also called 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, fundamentally washing the trail they follow as they're going.
The gigantic benefits of titanium dioxide used as a coating and built into surfaces is that dust will not build up normally thanks to the photosynthesis-like action, and when it does, it's going to be washed away thanks to the water-beading properties found in numerous common products like car polish. Some landmark buildings around the world have been sprayed with this type of nanotechnology so as to keep their surfaces cleaner and to reduce the effect of time.
The usage of this inside poses an issue at this time, due to the need for sunlight. But research is always moving the method 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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