Self-Cleaning Jeans Could Be In Your Future!
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Imagine if 'doing' laundry meant wearing your dirty clothes and lounging in the sun. If two researchers from China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Hubei University of Nationalities have their way, that may actually be a reality, in the not so distant future.
Creating self-cleaning material has been something material scientists have been trying to do for many years. In the past, they have succeeded by coating the fibers with Titanium dioxide, a photocatalyst that reacts with the energetic ultra-violet light and gets rid of stains and even, bacteria. However, thanks to the fact that the sun transmits few ultraviolet rays, the cleaning process was excruciatingly slow and therefore, not practical to use.
Researchers Mingce Long and Deyong Wu have come up with a formula that overcomes this obstacle. They began by creating a liquid dip of Titanium dioxide and nitrogen. To that they added sprinklings of another photocatalyst - silver iodide, which is known to speed up chemical reactions in sunlight.
They then coated cotton fibers with this liquid and hung out the resulting material in the sun and sure enough, in a few hours the orange stain on the cloth had disappeared as apparently, had the bacteria. Not only that, the laboratory tests showed that their mixture was seven times more effective than using Titanium dioxide alone.
While it may appear magical, the cleansing was caused by the chemical reaction between the Titanium dioxide, (used in solar panels and self- cleaning window cleaners) and the sun. The specks of silver iodide helped speed up the process and also ensured that the coating survived even after it was washed and dried the 'old'-fashioned' way - Something that would be necessary during the long dreary winter months. Also, while the duo used cotton fibers for their experiment, they believe that the process can be replicated with other materials.
There is however one hurdle. Before the researchers can roll out their magical formula for commercial use, they need to ensure that clothes with Titanium dioxide coating will not make people sick. That's because while the chemical is even used in some foods, recent studies have revealed that it may cause some health problems if, it gets into the lungs.
But, the researchers are not discouraged. They believe they will come up with a workable solution and dream of the day, when people will be lounging around in the sun, 'doing' laundry! Scientists truly rock, don't they?
Resources: sciencenewsforkids.com, guardian.co.uk, npr.org
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268 Comments
- Ketchupover 13 yearsWired!!
- Nikola P.over 13 yearsThis is a very interesting article. I never knew that scientists can make self cleaning cloths. My mom would love these new self cleanig cloths. I can't wait til they put them on use. I would recommend this article to any mom that hates to do laundry and wants to do the laundry faster.
- Reillyover 13 yearsIts good for Mingce Long and Deyong Wu that they created such an amazing and life-changing way to do do laundry but I wonder what will happen if say, theres no sun for a long amount of days. Also I wonder what will happen if the product is aproved but after millions of people buy it snd then someone gets sick from it, what would they do?
lovelylynxnatover 13 yearsDear Reilly, Exactly what I was thinking. They would probably have to check that it is not only an allergic reaction, but if it is not, then they have made a big mistake. Thankyou, lovelylynxnat
invisubuleyeover 13 yearsI would like this.- Agata M.over 13 yearsI found this article very intersting. I found this article intertesting because I thought they would never make a Self-Cleaning Jeans Machine. I really like this product and that means in the future less using washing machines. I would recomened this article to any person who hates doing laundry and wants to do laundry more faster.
- Nina P :)over 13 yearsThis article was very helpful, because now I could tell my mom another way to do laundry. This article was very interesting, and I also learned something new! I would show this to a friend to see what there reaction is on how to do another way of laundry.
- Zachary Mover 13 yearsI think this article is very interesting because it tells you another way that you can do laundry. I don't think it worked very well because in the pictures the stain was still there after the test. In the future I think it will get better and better with more research. I think the scientists should work on using safer chemicals because in the text it said that if you breath in the chemical it could hurt your lungs.
- Sydney over 13 yearsI think this is very cool! If these become available in stores, think about how much money you'll save on your water bill! Sure, they may cost more than regular clothes, but that's only to be expected. They'll pay for themselves, anyway. Mingce Long and Deyong Wu are brilliant. SO COOL!!! :O
- Jennings ;)over 13 yearsThis article is very interesting. It is very interesting because Then there would be commercially available machines that would do this and no one would ever use those washing machines ever again. Plus this would also create more jobs for the struggling American economy. Good bye 12 trillion dollar debt! Well, it wouldn't eliminate all the debt but it should at least annihilate 500 billion dollars of debt. I love this idea and the article.
niveover 13 yearscoolllll