Nanodiamond Additives for Cold Water Cleaning

清洁衣物直接或间接地影响着地球上的每个人，这使得它在能源和资源使用方面变得非常重要。传统的洗涤方法依赖于高温、机械作用和延长的洗涤时间--有时这是在合适的环境中进行的一项巨大的社会活动，但我们已经意识到，这会对水、能源甚至我们的时间等宝贵资源的使用产生负面影响。据估计，80%的能源用于家庭洗涤中的热水加热，建议将典型的洗衣周期从40摄氏度降低10摄氏度，最高可减少40%的能源消耗。看似简单的家用洗涤设备面临着巨大的技术挑战。一个平均的负荷含有40克的泥土；严重污染的洗涤可能含有超过120克的泥土，其中大部分来自与我们的身体接触。这种土壤和泥土是一种复杂的、通常鲜为人知的蛋白质、淀粉、碳水化合物、脂肪、脂肪酸、盐、粘土和颜料的混合物，所有这些都与各种织物有关。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，用来应对去除洗衣布上的泥土和污垢并防止其重新进入干净衣服的挑战。在这一过程中，结晶脂肪和脂肪是最难在低温下去除的，因为需要减少能源和资源的使用。我们提出的研究正是要解决这一挑战。钻石和相关的合成碳材料似乎不太可能成为洗涤过程中添加剂的选择，但它们拥有如此特殊的特性，因为我们能够非常精确地控制它们的形状、大小和表面化学，实际上它们提供了一个绝佳的机会。我们将制造的材料有望以一种独特的方式与洗涤过程中使用的洗涤剂和尚未解决的织物上结晶的脂肪颗粒相互作用。首先，它们将用洗涤剂制造出类似于小细胞的结构；其次，它们将有助于将纳米钻石输送到附着在织物上的结晶脂质中。我们将使用多种方法来研究荧光纳米钻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，用于测量附着在不同底层粗糙度的各种测试表面上的材料数量，以及一种直接观察纳米金刚石颗粒在“脏织物”上移动并将油脂剥离的方法。在这个为期一年的原则验证项目中，我们将开发新的材料和方法，以使我们能够确定新型添加剂在多大程度上带来了以前无法实现的表面清洁。总之，我们相信，这一创新将是向前迈进的一步，能够以比目前可能的温度低得多的温度去除结晶脂肪和类脂。这有可能为一项基本的日常任务带来巨大的能源和其他资源节约。

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.