Self-cleaning

Nissan is currently testing out a prototype that it says could make car washes a relic of the past. The test car benefits from a new nano-paint treatment that repels dirt and grime. The automaker is putting the car through the dirty wringer to see how well it holds up in the real world.

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 close of 2013 gives us an excellent opportunity, though satiated with holiday feasts, to look back on a year that has been filled with scientific accomplishment.

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.

In what they're calling a breakthrough discovery, UCL researchers studying the properties of titanium dioxide catalysts claim to have challenged the accepted view of how mixed-phase samples of the material actually behave.

Scientists have created a material that can be continuously tweaked between hydrophobic and hydrophilic states.

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

Researchers at The Netherlands’ Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have developed a coating that is not only self-healing, but also promises to free car owners of the tiresome chore of washing the car.

Fraunhofer researchers are developing UV light-activated self-cleaning coatings that destroy organic substances attaching themselves to various 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.

MIT has developed nanotextures for glass surfaces which render glass invisible, non-glare, fogless, and self-cleaning - perfect for diving masks and windows in cars and buuildings.

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