Photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning appliances
First Claim
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1. A self-cleaning appliance comprising:
- an appliance having at least one surface over which organic contaminants are expected to accumulate and a photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning coating of photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning oxides essentially free of a binder formed on the at least one surface from sol-gel, spray pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition, and magnetron sputtering vacuum deposition over said surface.
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Abstract
An appliance is rendered self-cleaning of accumulated organic contaminants on one or more surfaces of the appliance, by coating such surfaces of the appliance with a photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning coating. Upon exposing such coated surfaces to radiation of the appropriate wavelength, for a sufficient interval of time, at least a portion of the organic contaminants present on the photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning coating are removed. The coated surface is thereby cleaned without the need of manual effort or high temperatures. The radiation is generally actinic radiation, and more particularly includes ultraviolet radiation.
82 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A self-cleaning appliance comprising:
an appliance having at least one surface over which organic contaminants are expected to accumulate and a photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning coating of photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning oxides essentially free of a binder formed on the at least one surface from sol-gel, spray pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition, and magnetron sputtering vacuum deposition over said surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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7. A self-cleaning appliance comprising:
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an appliance having at least one surface over which organic contaminants are expected to accumulate; a photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning coating of photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning oxides formed on the at least one surface from sol-gel, spray pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition, or magnetron sputtering vacuum deposition over said surface; and a diffusion barrier layer between said surface and said self-cleaning coating. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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12. A self-cleaning appliance comprising:
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an appliance having at least one surface over which organic contaminants are expected to accumulate; a photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning coating of photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning oxides formed on the at least one surface from sol-gel, spray pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition, or magnetron sputtering vacuum deposition over said surface; and a means for irradiating said self-cleaning coating with ultraviolet radiation. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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19. A method of making a self-cleaning appliance comprising the steps of:
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assembling a plurality of component parts of said appliance to form said appliance; identifying surfaces of said component parts on which organic contaminants are expected to accumulate; selecting at least a portion of said identified surfaces to be photocatalytically self-cleaning; forming on said surface a photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning coating of photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning oxides formed from sol-gel, spray pyrolysis, chemical vapor deposition, or magnetron sputtering vacuum deposition over said selected surfaces. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A self-cleaning appliance comprising:
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an appliance having at least one surface over which organic contaminants are expected to accumulate and a photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning coating over said surface, and a diffusion barrier layer between said surface and said self-cleaning coating that functions as a sodium ion diffusion barrier layer, wherein said sodium ion diffusion barrier layer is a metal oxide selected from the group consisting of crystalline metal oxides, amorphous metal oxides other than titanium oxide, zirconium oxide and titanium zirconium oxides, and mixtures thereof.
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26. A self-cleaning appliance comprising:
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an appliance having at least one surface over which organic contaminants are expected to accumulate and a photocatalytically-activated self-cleaning coating over said surface, and a diffusion barrier layer between said surface and said self-cleaning coating that functions as a sodium ion diffusion barrier layer, wherein said sodium ion diffusion barrier layer is a metal oxide selected from the group consisting of cobalt oxides, chromium oxides, iron oxides, tin oxides, silicon oxides, fluorine doped tin oxides, aluminum oxides, magnesium oxides, zinc oxides, magnesium/aluminum oxides, zinc/tin oxides and mixtures thereof and mixtures with titanium oxide, zirconium oxide and titanium and zirconium oxides.
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Specification