Self-cleaning glass
Self-cleaning glass has a clear coating of titanium oxide about 50 nanometers thick. Ultraviolet light makes the coating break down dirt, and water spreads across it in a sheet instead of beading, so rain rinses the dirt away.
PilkingtonHow far from your life: You can get it now, though it may not be common yet.
Company-reportedFrom lab to your life
Why it’s on step 4
- 1Lab discovery
- 2Working prototype
- 3Real-world testing
- 4Approved or on sale
- 5Everyday life
The rule
A regulator approved or cleared it where approval applies (the FDA, the EMA, a CE mark), or it is sold to the public or to customers beyond a trial.
- Pilkington launched Activ, the world's first self-cleaning glass. Pilkington
The short version
What you need to know
- Why it matters
Windows need cleaning less often, since sunlight and rain do much of the work.
Pilkington- How small
The coating is about 50 nanometers thick: 50 millionths of a millimeter.
Pilkington- Is it really nano?
Truly nano
Everything happens in a coating about 50 nanometers thick.
Pilkington- Where you’ll find it
In windows and glass roofs of homes and buildings.
Pilkington- Who’s behind it
Pilkington and other glassmakers
On the record
Every step, dated
Newest first. Company-reported means the only source so far is the company itself.
Sources
Where every line comes from
Each source with the passage, word for word, that backs what we wrote.
- Pilkington
Pilkington Activ™ self-cleaning glass has a microscopically thin, transparent coating of titanium oxide.
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