Photoinduced Hydrophilic Effect and its Application on Self-Cleaning Technology

Since Fujishima discovered the photoinduced hydrophilic (PIH) effect of TiO2 thin films, photocatalytic selfcleaning materials and relevant technologies have achieved great progress. Along with a large number of issued patents, more and more commercial self-cleaning products have come in facilitating our lives. This paper reviews recent patents mainly filed since year 2000, including the recent development on the photocatalytic self-cleaning materials and coating agents, the approaches to improve the coating performance, the different modifying technologies for various self-cleaning substrates, the commercial products and multifunctional practical applications. The future development trends of photocatalytic self-cleaning technology are discussed.