it is the perfect invention for the house proud   a substance that means clothes will never stain, glass will not mist and kitchen surfaces automatically shed their germs scientists in london have developed a ‘self cleaning’ coating that can be sprayed or painted onto almost any material the substance, made out of coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles, works because it is very, very water resistant scientists in london have developed a ‘self cleaning’ coating that can be sprayed or painted onto almost any material the substance is made out of coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles and any drop of moisture which touches it turns into a ball and rolls away, cleaning up any dust or germs in its path  any drop of moisture which touches it turns into a ball and rolls away, cleaning up any dust or germs in its path the breakthrough, by chemists at university college london, comes after years of research into highly water resistant   or ‘superhydrophobic’   substances the idea was inspired by copying elements from nature waxy feathers, for example, repel water, keeping a bird afloat and its plumage clean the petals of a lotus flower, in a similar way, shed moisture, meaning they are not weighed down and damaged by rain within weeks of after samsung releasing its waterproof galaxy s5 last year, apple filed a patent that took its rival’s technology a step further called ‘methods for shielding electronic components from moisture’, the filing awarded today describes a way of making the inside of a phone waterproof rather than the outside individual components would be covered in a thin film designed to stop liquids damaging the phone, even if it manages to penetrate the outer casing professor ivan parkin, head of chemistry at ucl, said: ‘if we can do this as well as nature does it, we will have a series of breakthrough products’ applications for the spray might include self cleaning paint, which is resistant to coffee spills, damp or mould the substance may also be used in hospital theatres to stop bacteria accumulating or it might be used on the hulls of boats, reducing friction with the water, allowing more speed and requiring less fuel professor parkin, whose work is published in the journal science, added: ‘if it goes well you might see products on shop shelves in the order of two to four years’ phd student yao lu, whose lab work at ucl contributed to the breakthrough, has shown in a series of tests that the substance can be applied to the threads of textiles which could allow it to be used to create waterproof and stainproof clothes mr lu demonstrated that cotton wool coated with the substance could be dipped into blue coloured dye and yet emerge pristine white crucially, the student and his colleagues managed to develop a material that is far more robust than previous ‘self cleaning’ substances the experts demonstrated that cotton wool coated with the substance could be dipped into blue coloured dye and yet emerge pristine white (pictured) in addition, the coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles are so tough that they survived being rubbed 40 times with sandpaper  the idea was inspired by copying elements from nature waxy feathers, for example, repel water, keeping a bird afloat and its plumage clean the petals of a lotus flower, in a similar way, shed moisture meaning they are not weighed down and damaged by rain (pictured) previous attempts have failed because the coating could be wiped off with a napkin but coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles are so tough that they survived being rubbed 40 times with sandpaper mr lu said: ‘being waterproof allows materials to self clean as water forms marble shaped droplets that roll over the surface, acting like miniature vacuum cleaners picking up dirt, viruses and bacteria along the way ‘for this to happen, the surface must be rough and waxy, so we set out to create these conditions on hard and soft surfaces by designing our own paint and combining it with different adhesives to help the surfaces withstand damage’ professor claire carmalt, co author of the work, said: ‘the biggest challenge for the widespread application of self cleaning surfaces is finding a way to make them tough enough to withstand everyday damage ‘the surfaces tend to be mechanically weak and so rub off easily, but by pairing our paint with different adhesives, we’ve shown it is possible to make a robust self cleaning surface ‘we used materials that are readily available so our methods can be scaled up for industrial applications’ brigham young university researchers in utah recently created a technique to make any surface super waterproof by adding tiny structures to the surface instead this causes droplets to bounce (pictured), rather than roll, off researchers claim it could be used to make solar panels, ships and planes waterproof 
university college london
the substance is made out of coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles  any drop of moisture that touches it turns into a ball and rolls away  as it rolls off the surface it takes dust, dirt and germs with it  the breakthrough was made by chemists at university college london  it was inspired by the way feathers keep birds afloat and plumage clean 