Imagine jeans, sweats or socks that clean and de-odorize themselves when hung on a clothesline in the sun or draped on a balcony railing（栏杆，扶手） . Scientists are reporting development of a new cotton fabric¹ that does clean itself of stains and bacteria when exposed to ordinary sunlight. Their report appears in the ACS' journal Applied² Materials & Interfaces³. Mingce Long and Deyong Wu say their fabric uses a coating made from a compound of titanium dioxide, the white material used in everything from white paint to foods to sunscreen lotions⁴（防晒露） . Titanium dioxide breaks down dirt and kills microbes when exposed to some types of light. It already has found uses in self-cleaning windows, kitchen and bathroom tiles, odor-free socks and other products. Self-cleaning cotton fabrics⁵ have been made in the past, the authors note, but they self-clean thoroughly⁶ only when exposed to ultraviolet rays. So they set out to develop a new cotton fabric that cleans itself when exposed to ordinary sunlight.

Their report describes cotton fabric coated with nanoparticles made from a compound of titanium dioxide and nitrogen. They show that fabric coated with the material removes an orange dye stain when exposed to sunlight. Further dispersing⁷（分散的） nanoparticles composed of silver and iodine⁸（碘） accelerates the discoloration（变色，污点） process. The coating remains⁹ intact after washing and drying.

The authors acknowledge funding from Donghua University and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.