Titanium dioxide

A new solar-powered catalyst made of graphene and titanium dioxide nanoparticles can pluck pollutants out of the air, much more efficiently than others. The catalyst could be coated onto building or street surfaces to improve air quality in cities.

Regardless of what you may think of the practise of teeth-whitening, it appears to not just be a passing fad – and it can harm peoples' teeth. Scientists from China's Nanchang University are out to make it safer, with an experimental new technique.

Researchers have developed a new “mat” that can adsorb and destroy pollutants from water. It's made up of titanium dioxide nanoparticles embedded into polymer fibers, which destroys contaminants through UV light. The team says the design is faster, safer and more energy efficient than other systems.

How would you like to be able to wash your car by just hosing it off – no soap, scrubbing or drying? You may be able to in the not-too-distant future, thanks to an ultra-hydrophobic (water-repelling) paint that can be applied to a variety of surfaces, and that stays on once applied.

Panasonic recently unveiled a new technology to purify water using sunlight and photocalysts. The system purifies polluted water at a high reaction rate, to improve access to clean water where it is needed.

A nanotube-based anode for lithium-ion batteries can charge cells to 70 percent of their capacity in only two minutes and has a very long lifespan of ten thousand charge/discharge cycles.

House RP combines a futuristic-looking design that would look right at home in George Lucas sci-fi movie THX 1138, and what may well be a smog-reducing exterior finish.

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.

Multi-use Titanium Dioxide could be used to produce hydrogen and clean water from wastewater, double the lifespan of batteries, create antibacterial wound dressings, and more.

The Airocide air purifier uses technology developed by NASA, to neutralize organic molecules in household air.

A laundry additive created by researchers from the University of Sheffield and the London College of Fashion turns clothing into a photocatalytic material that can help remove nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the air.

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