Although doing laundry will continue to be a tedious obligation, nanotechnology makes it more bearable and could even end it in the near future. For example, nanoparticles developed by the American firm Nano-Tex prevent dirt from permeating fabrics . The German company Trevira, for its part, markets artificial fibers that repel bacteria even after 100 washes.
Some Nike or Hugo Boss garments already incorporate this technology, which, however, is still far from being self-cleaning. Now, a team of researchers from Monash University, in Australia, has devised a method to remove some stains from natural fibers in which the protein keratin is present, such as wool or silk. The trick is to cover them with titanium dioxide nanocrystals that oxidize food and dust when exposed to sunlight. The technique, as indicated by these experts in Chemistry of Materials, is harmless. The Bad: A wine stain takes about 20 hours to disappear.
