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Researchers Develop Self-Cleaning Clothes

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the your-washing-machine-is-pissed dept.

Ponca City, We Love You writes "Researchers at Monash University, in Australia, have found a process to coat natural fibers such as wool, silk, and hemp that will automatically remove food, grime, and even red-wine stains by coating their fibers with titanium dioxide nanocrystals, which break down food and dirt in sunlight. Titanium dioxide is a strong photocatalyst and in the presence of ultraviolet light and water vapor, it forms hydroxyl radicals, which oxidize, or decompose, organic matter. "These nanocrystals cannot decompose wool and are harmless to skin," says organic chemist and nanomaterials researcher Walid Daoud. Titanium dioxide can also destroy pathogens such as bacteria in the presence of sunlight by breaking down the cell walls of the microorganisms making self-cleaning fabrics especially useful in hospitals and other medical settings."

14 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Sunlight? by Harmonious+Botch · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sunlight?

    This is some new kind of LED, right?

    "...natural fibers such as wool, silk, and hemp..." So what if I'm sitting real close to someone who is wearing spandex or nylon or some other artificial fabric? Does it eat through those?

    1. Re:Sunlight? by lobiusmoop · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's the light bulb in the big blue room.

      --
      "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
    2. Re:Sunlight? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny

      "...natural fibers such as wool, silk, and hemp..." So what if I'm sitting real close to someone who is wearing spandex or nylon or some other artificial fabric? Does it eat through those?


      Interesting ramifications if you went to the beach to get some sun in the presence of a woman wearing a bathing suit.

      I think we may need to get a grant to see if this chemical can cause the spontaneous decay of women's swim wear in public. :-P The practical applications of that technology would be staggering.

      Cheers
      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  2. Its Achilles heel by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Obviously this would be the perfect clothing for many slashbots. However its requirement of sunlight to activate the self-cleaning enzymes makes it impractical for those basement dwellers among you.

    Can they modify the fabric to react to the glow of a CRT?

    1. Re:Its Achilles heel by jrumney · · Score: 4, Funny

      You mean you have the energy left to take your clothes off and hang them in the server-room closet before you slump over your keyboard for the night? You obviously aren't getting in enough WoW.

    2. Re:Its Achilles heel by provigilman · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well if you're playing WoW naked then it isn't a problem, is it? I mean....not that, you know...I do, or anything....it was just a suggestion...if you're into that..... *runs*

      --
      "Life's short and hard, like a body building elf." -- The Bloodhound Gang
  3. Only self-cleans in sunlight? by Gr33nNight · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess we'll be seeing many more geeks walking around in their underwear.

  4. In Other News... by wrfelts · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...man wakes up to find a pile of goo wearing his wife's very clean titanium dioxide pajamas...

    1. Re:In Other News... by DrLang21 · · Score: 5, Funny

      We most certainly ARE organic matter. And in a sense, we are also food. I for one do not desire to be digested by my own pants.

      --
      I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
  5. Well, there goes my plans... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess the old "Spill something on her dress and act concerned by patting her chest with a napkin" plan just flew out the window. Now I gotta use other plans to act innocent while copping a feel.

    I guess I could try the "Make a sudden stop at a light right before it turns red and stick my arm out to make sure she doesn't fly forward" plan.

  6. Welcome to 2002, Australia! by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/19/1246231

  7. Re:Safe on the body, but inside the body? by shking · · Score: 4, Funny

    Self-cleaning anal beads! You're a genius!
    No sh**!
    --
    -- "At Microsoft, quality is job 1.1" -- PC Magazine, Nov. 1994
  8. Re:Man, I remember when Lead was safe too by orclevegam · · Score: 4, Funny

    You know that soap will kill you. Also, water is the deadliest substance on Earth, says so right here.

    --
    Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
  9. Re:This must be what Star Trek uniforms are made o by Lurker2288 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's not hard to keep the red shirts clean--people don't seem to wear them very long.