The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 18, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 19, 1998
Makoto Hayakawa, Nakashima, JP;
Eiichi Kojima, Nakashima, JP;
Keiichiro Norimoto, Nakashima, JP;
Mitsuyoshi Machida, Nakashima, JP;
Atsushi Kitamura, Nakashima, JP;
Toshiya Watanabe, Nakashima, JP;
Makoto Chikuni, Nakashima, JP;
Akira Fujishima, Nakahara-ku, JP;
Kazuhito Hashimoto, Hongoudai, JP;
Toto, Ltd., Fukuoka-ken, JP;
Abstract
A method for hydrophilifying the surface of a substrate by taking advantage of photocatalytic action. The substrate has a photocatalytic titania coating (10). The surface of the photocatalytic coating (10) bears the solid acid that increases a hydrogen bond component (.gamma..sub.S.sup.h) in the surface energy in the solid/gas interface of the coating. Photoexcitation of the photocatalyst enhances the hydrogen bond component (.gamma..sub.S.sup.h) in the surface energy of the photocatalytic coating (10), accelerating the physical adsorption of molecules of water in the atmosphere through a hydrogen bond (16) onto hydrogen atoms in a terminal OH group (12), bonded to a titanium atom, and a bridge OH group (14) on the surface of the coating. This results in the formation of a high density, physically adsorbed water layer (18) on the surface of the photocatalytic coating (10), thus permitting the surface of the substrate to be easily hydrophilified. The method is applicable to antifogging, antifouling, selfcleaning and cleaning of articles.