New nano-textiles can be "washed off" with sunlight

Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, March 23 (Reporter Hua Ling) The research team of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia has developed a new method to promote the growth of special nanostructures. The textiles made from it can be directly degraded by exposure to sunlight. The stain above. This means that after the clothes are dirty and can be "washed" in the sun, the washing machine may be eliminated.

According to a report by the Physicist Organization Network on the 22nd, the study paved the way for enhancing the future cleaning of nano-textiles on their own stains and dirt. The results were published in the latest issue of the Advanced Materials Interface.

The team leader, Ramanathan, said that the research results have been developed in a variety of catalyst-based applications, such as agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals, etc., and can be easily scaled to industrial production levels. He said: "The advantage of textiles is their three-dimensional structure, which has a strong ability to absorb light, which in turn accelerates the degradation process of organic matter. There is still a lot of work to be done before its popularity may begin to eliminate washing machines. Progress has laid a solid foundation for the future development of textiles that are completely self-cleaning."

According to reports, when the nanomaterials are "impregnated" in the light, the energy they obtain can be increased to create "hot electrons". These "hot electrons" release a lot of energy, enabling nanomaterials to degrade organic matter. The new method allows the developed reinforced nanomaterial to reach a stable structure within 30 minutes, and some of the fabrics are self-cleaning in less than 6 minutes when exposed to sunlight.

At present, the challenge for researchers is to make this concept work outside the laboratory, trying to make these nanostructures industrial-scale and permanently attach them to textiles.

The researchers said the next step would be to test the performance of this enhanced nanotextile to remove some organic compounds to detect how quickly they can dispose of stains that consumers often get on their clothes, such as ketchup or dripping.