Nanodiamond Additives for Cold Water Cleaning

洗衣服直接或间接地影响到地球上的每个人，因此在能源和资源使用方面非常重要。传统的洗涤方法依赖于高温、机械作用和延长的洗涤时间——有时在适当的环境下是一种巨大的社会活动，但我们已经意识到，这种方法对水、能源甚至我们的时间等宝贵资源的使用方式产生了负面影响。据估计，80%的能源用于加热家庭洗涤用水，建议将典型的洗衣周期从40摄氏度降低10摄氏度，可减少高达40%的能源消耗。在看似简单的家庭洗涤中所面临的技术挑战是巨大的。平均荷载含有40克土壤；被严重污染的衣物可能含有超过120克的碳水化合物，其中大部分来自与我们的身体接触。这些土壤和污垢是一种复杂的、通常鲜为人知的蛋白质、淀粉、碳水化合物、脂类、脂肪酸、盐、粘土和色素的混合物，它们都与各种各样的织物有关。一种同样复杂的洗涤剂、酶和其他化学物质的混合物组成了一种现代洗衣剂，用来解决从洗衣织物上去除土壤和污垢的挑战，并防止它们重新进入干净的衣服中。在该过程中，结晶脂肪和脂质是最难在低温下去除的，因为需要减少能源和资源的使用。我们所提出的研究正是要解决这一挑战。金刚石和相关的合成碳材料似乎不太可能成为洗涤过程中的添加剂，但它们具有如此特殊的特性，我们可以非常精确地控制它们的形状、大小和表面化学性质，实际上它们提供了一个绝佳的机会。我们将制作的材料有望以独特的方式与洗涤过程中使用的洗涤剂和织物上未解决的结晶性脂质颗粒相互作用。首先，他们会用洗涤剂制造类似小细胞的结构，其次，这将有助于将纳米金刚石输送到附着在织物上的结晶脂质上。我们将使用多种方法来研究荧光纳米金刚石如何与表面相互作用，然后将脂质带入溶液中。其中包括：一种非常灵敏的方法，用于测量附着在各种不同潜在粗糙度的测试表面上的材料量，以及一种直接观察纳米金刚石颗粒在“脏织物”上移动并去除油脂的方法。在这个为期一年的原理验证项目中，我们将开发新材料和新方法，直到我们能够说出新添加剂在多大程度上以一种以前不可能的方式清洁表面。总之，我们相信这项创新将是在比目前可能的更低的温度下去除结晶脂肪和脂质所需要的一步。这有可能为一项基本的日常任务节省大量的能源和其他资源。

Cleaning clothes directly, or indirectly, affects everyone on the planet, making it hugely important in terms of energy and resource usage. Traditional methods of washing rely on high temperature, mechanical action and extended washing times - sometimes a tremendously social activity in the right environment, but one that we have come to realise has a negative impact in the way precious resources such as water, energy and even our time are used. An estimated 80% of the energy is used to heat water in a domestic wash and it is suggested that reducing a typical laundry cycle from 40 degrees C by 10 degrees reduces that energy usage by up to 40%. The technical challenge faced in a deceptively simple domestic wash is enormous. An average load contains 40 g of soil; heavily soiled washing may contain over 120 g, much of which comes from contact with our bodies. This soil and dirt is a complex, often poorly understood mixture of proteins, starches, carbohydrates, lipids, fatty acids, salts, clays and pigments, all associated with a wide range of fabrics. An equally complex mixture of detergents, enzymes and other chemicals that comprise a modern laundry agent are used to tackle the challenge of removing the soil and dirt from laundry fabric and keep it from re-entering cleaned clothes. In that process crystallized fat and lipid are the most difficult to remove at the low temperatures sought by the need to reduce energy and resource usage. It is precisely this challenge that we seek to address in our proposed research.Diamond and related synthetic carbon materials appear an unlikely choice of additive to the washing process, but they possess such special properties in terms of our ability to control very precisely their shape, size and surface chemistry that in fact they offer a fantastic opportunity. The materials we shall make are expected to interact with both the detergents used in the wash process and the unsolved problem of crystallized lipid particles on fabric in a unique way. Firstly they will make structures resembling small cells with the detergents and secondly these will aid the delivery of the nanodiamonds to the crystallized lipid adhering to the fabric. We shall use a combination of methods to study how the fluorescent nanodiamonds interact with the surface and then allow the lipid to be brought into solution. These include: a very sensitive method for measuring the amount of material adhering to a variety of test surfaces of differing underlying roughness and a means of directly observing the nanodiamond particles as they move across the 'soiled fabric' and lift off the grease. In this one-year, proof-of-principle project we shall develop both the new materials and methodologies to the point where we are able to say to what extent the novel additives bring about cleaning of the surfaces in a way that wasn't previously possible.In summary we believe that this innovation will be the step forward required to enable the removal of crystallized fat and lipid at much lower temperatures than currently possible. This has the potential to bring huge savings of energy and other resources to an essential, everyday task.