Nanotechnology

[Glassman]

Pilkington apply a coating of titanium oxide to glass to make it 'self-cleaning'. This layer measures 50nm - 50 millionths of a millimetre

[Heskey]

Now all we need is phase gates to get from A to B!

[cs02rm0]

The Emperor's New Windows?

Edited by cs02rm0 on Friday 28th November 15:12

[Neil_H]

Shouldn't this be in the 'Useless Random Facts thread'?

[julian64]

How tough do you think a 50nm layer of anything is when a squeegy, or even a cleaning cloth is applied just the once.

[sultanbrown]

julian64 said:

How tough do you think a 50nm layer of anything is when a squeegy, or even a cleaning cloth is applied just the once.

Duh, it's self cleaning.

[littlegreenfairy]

julian64 said:

How tough do you think a 50nm layer of anything is when a squeegy, or even a cleaning cloth is applied just the once.

Very very tough.

Fascinating stuff.

[Dirty Boy]

I now declare I have just been inspired with the idea to apply a thin film of Titanium Dioxide (TiO2 - probably) to car surfaces creating the worlds first self cleaning cars.

[S3_Graham]

how long does it take?

[GTIR]

S3_Graham said:

how long does it take?

Depends how big your cloth is.

[littlegreenfairy]

We did this at uni and somewhere I have a book on it.

I can't remember much as the technical bits are very dull, and I found engineering not to be my cup of tea anyhow - but I'll have a hunt around to see what I can find when I get home if you want me to.

[Marf]

Looks pretty good tbh

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/perma...
http://www.metaefficient.com/windows/self-cleaning...

Edited by Marf on Friday 28th November 15:43

[julian64]

littlegreenfairy said:

julian64 said:

How tough do you think a 50nm layer of anything is when a squeegy, or even a cleaning cloth is applied just the once.

Very very tough.

Fascinating stuff.

Sounds like a Cillt bang advert to me. Just imagine how tough a flim that think would have to be not to get removed by normal wear and tear.

We could have invisible walkways 1mm thick we could walk on. We could make aeroplanes weight a small fraction of their current weight.

Look at the current nanometer technologies for making computers. You aren't allowed to breath or touch the process for fear you will bust it, but pilkington designed something that breaks all those rules.

I agree with the poster above, a headline grabbing temporary covering at best, ENC at worst.

[Glassman]

Dirty Boy said:

Titanium Dioxide

Used in toothpaste iirc

Edited by Glassman on Friday 28th November 15:48

[911motorsport]

I've got 'em, and there's been a bit of birdst on there for 3 weeks!

[s2art]

julian64 said:

littlegreenfairy said:

julian64 said:

How tough do you think a 50nm layer of anything is when a squeegy, or even a cleaning cloth is applied just the once.

Very very tough.

Fascinating stuff.

Sounds like a Cillt bang advert to me. Just imagine how tough a flim that think would have to be not to get removed by normal wear and tear.

We could have invisible walkways 1mm thick we could walk on. We could make aeroplanes weight a small fraction of their current weight.

Look at the current nanometer technologies for making computers. You aren't allowed to breath or touch the process for fear you will bust it, but pilkington designed something that breaks all those rules.

I agree with the poster above, a headline grabbing temporary covering at best, ENC at worst.

Just depends on the material in question. Check out diamond coating, for instance.

[Glassman]

How big small is a micron?

[julian64]

s2art said:

julian64 said:

littlegreenfairy said:

julian64 said:

How tough do you think a 50nm layer of anything is when a squeegy, or even a cleaning cloth is applied just the once.

Very very tough.

Fascinating stuff.

Sounds like a Cillt bang advert to me. Just imagine how tough a flim that think would have to be not to get removed by normal wear and tear.

We could have invisible walkways 1mm thick we could walk on. We could make aeroplanes weight a small fraction of their current weight.

Look at the current nanometer technologies for making computers. You aren't allowed to breath or touch the process for fear you will bust it, but pilkington designed something that breaks all those rules.

I agree with the poster above, a headline grabbing temporary covering at best, ENC at worst.

Just depends on the material in question. Check out diamond coating, for instance.

Well again, imagine the wider implications and uses if you had a material that tough at that thickness. Do you think anti smear coating on glass would be high up on the list of money making applications?

Diamond coating is very tough but very brittle. Great for cutting, but the cutters wear out pretty damn fast on almost anything, even if deeply embedded in metal or resin. What the op is proposing is a form of holy grail used in other applications

[esselte]

s2art said:

julian64 said:

littlegreenfairy said:

julian64 said:

How tough do you think a 50nm layer of anything is when a squeegy, or even a cleaning cloth is applied just the once.

Very very tough.

Fascinating stuff.

Sounds like a Cillt bang advert to me. Just imagine how tough a flim that think would have to be not to get removed by normal wear and tear.

We could have invisible walkways 1mm thick we could walk on. We could make aeroplanes weight a small fraction of their current weight.

Look at the current nanometer technologies for making computers. You aren't allowed to breath or touch the process for fear you will bust it, but pilkington designed something that breaks all those rules.

I agree with the poster above, a headline grabbing temporary covering at best, ENC at worst.

Just depends on the material in question. Check out diamond coating, for instance.

This lot use a "sputtering" technique to put a 80nM layer of aliminuim onto their reflecting telescope mirror clicky

Edited by esselte on Friday 28th November 16:15

[johnfm]

julian64 said:

littlegreenfairy said:

julian64 said:

How tough do you think a 50nm layer of anything is when a squeegy, or even a cleaning cloth is applied just the once.

Very very tough.

Fascinating stuff.

Sounds like a Cillt bang advert to me. Just imagine how tough a flim that think would have to be not to get removed by normal wear and tear.

We could have invisible walkways 1mm thick we could walk on. We could make aeroplanes weight a small fraction of their current weight.

Look at the current nanometer technologies for making computers. You aren't allowed to breath or touch the process for fear you will bust it, but pilkington designed something that breaks all those rules.

I agree with the poster above, a headline grabbing temporary covering at best, ENC at worst.

I don't think it's a thin 'film' per se - i.e., it isn;t like a really thin bit of cling film!

It will be an impregnation a few molecules thick, forming very strong bond with the glass structure. It isn't going to wipe off, as it were.