Boring laundry could be obsolete, with new tech from UC Davis researchers. Photo Paolo/Flickr
Forget washing your clothes. In the future, you may be able to clean your shirt just by taking a walk in the sun.
Students at UC Davis have worked out a way to mix cotton with a compound that reacts to light. When hit by photons, the compound — 2-anthraquinone carboxylic acid — reacts and produces hydroxyl radicals and hydrogen peroxide.
Hydrogen peroxide, you will remember, is used to bleach hair and propel rockets. The released chemical will also kill bacteria and “break down organic compounds such as pesticides and other toxins.” Perhaps you wouldn’t want to actually be wearing this when the light hits it.
Self-cleaning clothes would be great. Imagine a hiking trip. Instead of having to wash and dry your clothes, you could just leave them out on a rock to clean them. Ning Liu, who worked on bonding the chemicals to the cellulose in the cotton, says that the fabric “has potential applications in biological and chemical protective clothing for health care, food processing and farmworkers, as well as military personnel.” Whatever. I’ll settle for claiming back the space the washing machine takes up in my tiny kitchen.
Self-cleaning cotton breaks down pesticides, bacteria [UC Davis via CNET]
See Also:
- Self-Cleaning Shower Uses Nano-Coatings to Destroy Dirt
- Litter-Robot: Self Cleaning Cat Box
- Swedish Self Cleaning Toilet Hoovers Up Cocaine
- Scientists Copy Nature For Self-Cleaning Plastics
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