Photo-catalytic, self cleaning coating for building...( Imagine the exterior of your house a...)

Imagine the exterior of your house always looking good, without cleaning or giving it a new coat of paint. This is now possible with paint that can maintain itself and get rid of accumulated dirt on its own.

A process for producing photo-catalytic, self-cleaning coatings has been developed by scientists at Singapore's A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), and licensed to Haruna (S) Pte Ltd.

The patented process produces a coating containing the nano-particle, titanium dioxide (TiO2).

When exposed to an ultraviolet light source, such as the sun, the coating's oxidative property decomposes organic substances such as microbes on its surface.

In addition, the hydrophilic nature of the coating causes water that comes into contact with it to form an even layer, thereby allowing the dust and dirt that have accumulated on the surface to be washed away. These two properties of the coating create the "self-cleaning" effect.

The self-cleaning coating technology, developed at the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), a research institute under A*STAR, is applicable for use on painted surfaces.

Such coatings will greatly benefit building maintenance, especially for skyscrapers, since they reduce the need for costly surface cleaning.

With the novel coating technology, the surface of buildings can remain clean longer, compared to surfaces without the coating.

In Singapore, the surface of a typical commercial building is washed at least once a year. For some shopping malls, exterior washing is as frequent as once a quarter. Every wash costs between $10,000 to $50,000 (Singapore currency), depending on the size of the building.

A*STAR's coating technology is set to reduce the frequency of washes and correspondingly, drive down the cost of building maintenance. Because water is also saved in the process, this self-cleaning technology translates to a more env
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