Self-cleaning

A researcher at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has developed a self-cleaning coating made up of nanoparticles that removes stains from cashmere by exposing the garment to light.

Unlike adhesive tape, gecko's feet retain their sticky qualities even after many, many uses. Now, thanks to research being conducted at Carnegie Mellon University and Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, we may one day be using self-cleaning reusable gecko-inspired tape.

The research team responsible for the SLIPS technology that creates the slipperiest known synthetic surface has improved upon their technology. By now making it transparent and more durable, it now has potential for creating scratch-resistant lenses and self-cleaning windows and solar panels.

Researchers at Ohio State University have looked to butterfly wings and sharkskin for inspiration for dirt-resistant surfaces.

Last week that giant multinational of aluminum production Alcoa announced its new "smog-eating" architectural panels: cladding stuck to a building's exterior that can remove pollutants from the surrounding air.

Researchers have developed a coating for fabric, that could be used to clean clothing simply by exposing it to sunlight.

Self-dusting solar panels that are cleaned by an electric charge provided by the solar panels themselves could help improve efficiency and reduce maintenance costs at solar power plants.

Using an ultra high-speed camera, a powerful microscope and an audio speaker, scientists have been able to observe water as it condensed on the lotus leaf's surface, and more importantly, how the water condensate disappeared.