Technically Speaking

A newly created form of glass has the ability to clean itself, with only water. The glass has a 15 nanometres thick film of titanium dioxide coating that when ultraviolet radiation contacts it causes a photocatalytic effect. This photocatalytic effect breaks down the dirt allowing i to be washed away with just water.

SELF-CLEANING GLASS
1 - Dirt, glass, Nano-scale Activ coating containing microcrystalline titanium dioxide
2 - Sun shines on window. The UV rays trigger a chemical reaction in Activ coating, called a photocatalytic process, which breaks down dirt
3 - When water hits glass, a hydrophilic effect is created. Water spreads evenly over the surface, instead of droplets, so runs off and takes dirt with it

Quote Source

The glass cost slightly more than conventional glass and may have other useful attributes such as breaking down E-coli on surfaces, and decomposing pollutants in the air.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2004 at 3:43 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.