[Aptorian]

http://www.physorg.c...s184310039.html

Quote

Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

PhysOrg.com) -- Spray-on liquid glass is transparent, non-toxic, and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat, and bacterial infections. The coating is also flexible and breathable, which makes it suitable for use on an enormous array of products.

The liquid glass spray (technically termed "SiO₂ ultra-thin layering") consists of almost pure silicon dioxide (silica, the normal compound in glass) extracted from quartz sand. Water or ethanol is added, depending on the type of surface to be coated. There are no additives, and the nano-scale glass coating bonds to the surface because of the quantum forces involved. According to the manufacturers, liquid glass has a long-lasting antibacterial effect because microbes landing on the surface cannot divide or replicate easily.

Liquid glass was invented in Turkey and the patent is held by Nanopool, a family-owned German company. Research on the product was carried out at the Saarbrücken Institute for New Materials. Nanopool is already in negotiations in the UK with a number of companies and with the National Health Service, with a view to its widespread adoption.

The liquid glass spray produces a water-resistant coating only around 100 nanometers (15-30 molecules) thick. On this nanoscale the glass is highly flexible and breathable. The coating is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids. UK project manager with Nanopool, Neil McClelland, said soon almost every product you purchase will be coated with liquid glass.

Food processing companies in Germany have already carried out trials of the spray, and found sterile surfaces that usually needed to be cleaned with strong bleach to keep them sterile needed only a hot water rinse if they were coated with liquid glass. The levels of sterility were higher for the glass-coated surfaces, and the surfaces remained sterile for months.

Other organizations, such as a train company and a hotel chain in the UK, and a hamburger chain in Germany, are also testing liquid glass for a wide range of uses. A year-long trial of the spray in a Lancashire hospital also produced "very promising" results for a range of applications including coatings for equipment, medical implants, catheters, sutures and bandages. The war graves association in the UK is investigating using the spray to treat stone monuments and grave stones, since trials have shown the coating protects against weathering and graffiti. Trials in Turkey are testing the product on monuments such as the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara.

The liquid glass coating is breathable, which means it can be used on plants and seeds. Trials in vineyards have found spraying vines increases their resistance to fungal diseases, while other tests have shown sprayed seeds germinate and grow faster than untreated seeds, and coated wood is not attacked by termites. Other vineyard applications include coating corks with liquid glass to prevent "corking" and contamination of wine. The spray cannot be seen by the naked eye, which means it could also be used to treat clothing and other materials to make them stain-resistant. McClelland said you can "pour a bottle of wine over an expensive silk shirt and it will come right off".

In the home, spray-on glass would eliminate the need for scrubbing and make most cleaning products obsolete. Since it is available in both water-based and alcohol-based solutions, it can be used in the oven, in bathrooms, tiles, sinks, and almost every other surface in the home, and one spray is said to last a year.

Liquid glass spray is perhaps the most important nanotechnology product to emerge to date. It will be available in DIY stores in Britain soon, with prices starting at around £5 ($8 US). Other outlets, such as many supermarkets, may be unwilling to stock the products because they make enormous profits from cleaning products that need to be replaced regularly, and liquid glass would make virtually all of them obsolete.

I've been looking around on the site and googled spray on glass and the article seems legit. It's a not a gag or an early April fools joke. This stuff is apparently real.

If this stuff does half the things the article states, this is ridiculously awesome. I find it rather incredible that you should be able spray living creatures with this and it wont hurt them. Could this be used on humans as well? Like a 24 hour hazmat suit repelling germs and toxic materials?

Next question will of course be what happens if the stuff is ingested or it gets in your airways or in your bloodstream and organs.

Does the daily mail consider it cancerous?

EDIT: Who's buying stocks in Nanopool technologies?

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 02 February 2010 - 05:58 PM

[alt146]

I dont really see how it could be toxic - it's just silica and tiny amounts of it at that from the sound of it. I would love to see a more science type article describing the way the stuff works rather than 'quantum forces'. This being the second article that I've seen about the stuff, with similar but slightly different facts, makes me think it's either legit or a very well thought out hoax. As you say, if even half the things that this can do work it will be pretty amazing and one of hopefully many more big leaps forward in material science. Space elevators here we come!

[Jusentantaka]

Well silica (silicon dioxide, SiO₂) is used in pharmaceuticals for tablet forming, so I'll buy it being safe and shit to ingest in limited (prolly) quantities. I wouldn't go so far as to start spraying animals with it though. Or licking the counter after spraying it.


As for hazmat suit... uhm. *sprays glass in her eye* IT BURNSSSS

so, yeah, no. But sort of too, since the glass face can be this same material, so add clothing coated with it and sure. Also not sure if this wouldn't cause the same problem as body paint (Goldfinger gal) if you spray it all over your skin, because things can be breathable to much varying degrees. (And no, it does not mean that you can 'breathe' it)

edit: if no one finds an article to explain how it works, I'll take a shot at it... later tho. (in regards to the 'quantum forces' and more maybe if I feel like it)

ps: fuck space elevators, bring on nanoscale high temperature superconductors and josephson fusion plants.

This post has been edited by Jusentantaka: 02 February 2010 - 06:25 PM

[Sinisdar Toste]

i will send anyone in the UK money for them to send me some of this stuff. you could totally spray your hands and remove fingerprints... or maybe not, the shits pretty thin...

obama should get a hold of this, he's so gung ho about saving money in the medical sector, this could obseletify all the sterility products. of course, its america, so then you'd have gigantic uproars about putting the poor ethanol alcohol manufacturers out of business

[Obdigore]

regarding fingerprints, you wouldn't leave any because you skin oils couldn't penetrate it, however your fingerprints would remain in things that would capture them otherwise, like if you get paint over the spray on your finger then touch something...

I could certainly see doctors spraying their hands with this before and after every surgery/patient.

This post has been edited by Obdigore: 02 February 2010 - 06:33 PM

[Aptorian]

Seriously, the more I think about this stuff and the things the article says it does the more it blows my mind.

Hell, it probably won't be wide spread before it's been through thousands of trials, but when does... in 5-10 years time when it's proven to be non-lethal, etc... oh my.

[alt146]

Wasnt the golfinger thing proven to be a fallacy or something? If they could invent a stronger version of this as a building material it would also be pretty cool. Is anyone else thinking chainglass blades in the near future

[Aptorian]

Mythbusters did an article on it, which if I recall... busted the Goldfinger myth, but it was somewhat inconclusive. While Jamie didn't die of some kind of asphyxiation, he did experience some strange reactions that the paramedics were worried about.

Then again, never trust the mythbusters as your only source on a scientific question.

I believe the stuff you're looking for is Nano carbon tubes which scientists unfortunately still haven't been able to make feasible.

[alt146]

Yeah I know, but this would probably be the first step towards them that will have an effect on people's everyday lives. So a good start.

[Jusentantaka]

alt146, on 02 February 2010 - 06:55 PM, said:

Wasnt the golfinger thing proven to be a fallacy or something? If they could invent a stronger version of this as a building material it would also be pretty cool. Is anyone else thinking chainglass blades in the near future

Well, uhm... ok shut up. its real in my mind.

I don't think buildings would be a good idea, since then siliconosis (breathing crystalline silica is a bad thing) would be a long-term concern, as you'd be living in the building and concentrations would be dangerous since they're a lot higher than this tiny spray-layer. Plus we already have glass

[alt146]

Jusentantaka, on 02 February 2010 - 07:12 PM, said:

alt146, on 02 February 2010 - 06:55 PM, said:

Wasnt the golfinger thing proven to be a fallacy or something? If they could invent a stronger version of this as a building material it would also be pretty cool. Is anyone else thinking chainglass blades in the near future

Well, uhm... ok shut up. its real in my mind.

I don't think buildings would be a good idea, since then siliconosis (breathing crystalline silica is a bad thing) would be a long-term concern, as you'd be living in the building and concentrations would be dangerous since they're a lot higher than this tiny spray-layer. Plus we already have glass

I was thinking more along the lines of spray-on bulletproofing or something you can coat roads with to make them more hardwearing.

[Jusentantaka]

no. and yes maybe for the roads.

Silica plates can be bullet resistant, since they're thick and dense, thin silica will just shatter when hit by that kind of force. Or at best stop it from penetrating, but then you'd need a way to absorb/distribute the impact, or it would be like getting hit in the chest with a hammer.

Roads would be interesting, but over here in amerikhuh, the roads expand/contract pretty dramatically (for stone) with the seasons and temperature shifts. maybe with some way to continually recoat uncovered areas though? For bridges though it'd be fantasticly better than the shitty paint used now though. And concrete moves less and lasts longer than asphalt, so it might work there too.

[alt146]

I meant more in terms of for windows and stuff but whatever, I got to take programming instead of material science so I dont have the greatest idea what I'm talking about

The roads on the way to my work are destroyed about once every couple of months by the hundreds of coal trucks that use them, so I'd go and buy a shitload of the stuff and spray it on myself if it meant Iwouldnt be jostled as much while I tried to read on the bus.

[Aptorian]

The stuff isn't a magical shield. Lots of trucks carrying heavy loads destroy the road more because of the pressure and subsequent stress they put on the road than the fact that they drive over it a lot.

I found a different article talking about liquid glass used on roads, but that was intended to protect it from the weather rather than traffic. Rain, wind and temperatures are what causes roads to fail as much as the traffic that rolls over them.

[Jusentantaka]

alt146, on 02 February 2010 - 08:02 PM, said:

I meant more in terms of for windows and stuff but whatever, I got to take programming instead of material science so I don't have the greatest idea what I'm talking about

Ok, I hate you.

Sigh, I had this big loong paragraph about how bulletproof glass isn't glass but polycarbonate plastic, which is toxic as all hell and should never be sprayed anywhere, and is devoid of any similarities to real glass except being transparent, including having no silica. Go study your... Oracle or Python or iCode or whatever.hehe. iCode.

This post has been edited by Jusentantaka: 02 February 2010 - 08:42 PM

[Adjutant Stormy~]

Let's not confuse this with some magic phlogiston that will cure all of society's ills.

silica particles have some interesting properties, but I will have to do some research. I'll ask my one of my professors, he does surface and nanoparticle chemistry.

[caladanbrood]

Aside: Well, phlogiston was hardly supposed to cure ills, it was just supposed to answer questions

[HoosierDaddy]

We'll breathe this stuff in, yes? I'd like a massive scientific test on it before we start spraying it around like water on a fire.

[Aptorian]

In the reddit thread I got this from, someone raised Carbon Nano Tubes as an example of nano particles that have a strange effect on cellular growth.

The Comment Section: (It's one of the top comments)

http://www.reddit.co..._revolutionize/

This is the link he was talking about:

http://pubs.acs.org/....1021/nn900887m

It shows that when the nano tubes were added to the water the plants absorbed, their cellular growth increased and became erratic. Question is how big a difference there is between SiO₂ and CNTs.

Another post in the comment thread quotes a paragraph in some journal:

Quote

Nanomaterials tend to be highly carcinogenic.

I hope studies are performed to verify that this stuff is safe before it gets into general use.

For instance:

Genotoxicity of nanomaterials: DNA damage and micronuclei induced by carbon nanotubes and graphite nanofibres in human bronchial epithelial cells in vitro

Hanna K. Lindberga, Ghita C.-M. Falcka, Satu Suhonena, Minnamari Vippolab, c, Esa Vanhalab, Julia Catalána, d, Kai Savolainena and Hannu Norppaa,

Despite the increasing industrial use of different nanomaterials, data on their genotoxicity are scant. In the present study, we examined the potential genotoxic effects of carbon nanotubes (CNTs; >50% single-walled, not, vert, similar40% other CNTs; 1.1 nm × 0.5–100 μm; Sigma–Aldrich) and graphite nanofibres (GNFs; 95%; outer diameter 80–200 nm, inner diameter 30–50 nm, length 5–20 μm; Sigma–Aldrich) in vitro. Genotoxicity was assessed by the single cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay and the micronucleus assay (cytokinesis-block method) in human bronchial epithelial BEAS 2B cells cultured for 24 h, 48 h, or 72 h with various doses (1–100 μg/cm2, corresponding to 3.8–380 μg/ml) of the carbon nanomaterials. In the comet assay, CNTs induced a dose-dependent increase in DNA damage at all treatment times, with a statistically significant effect starting at the lowest dose tested. GNFs increased DNA damage at all doses in the 24-h treatment, at two doses (40 and 100 μg/cm2) in the 48-h treatment (dose-dependent effect) and at four doses (lowest 10 μg/cm2) in the 72-h treatment. In the micronucleus assay, no increase in micronucleated cells was observed with either of the nanomaterials after the 24-h treatment or with CNTs after the 72-h treatment. The 48-h treatment caused a significant increase in micronucleated cells at three doses (lowest 10 μg/cm2) of CNTs and at two doses (5 and 10 μg/cm2) of GNFs. The 72-h treatment with GNFs increased micronucleated cells at four doses (lowest 10 μg/cm2). No dose-dependent effects were seen in the micronucleus assay. The presence of carbon nanomaterial on the microscopic slides disturbed the micronucleus analysis and made it impossible at levels higher than 20 μg/cm2 of GNFs in the 24-h and 48-h treatments. In conclusion, our results suggest that both CNTs and GNFs are genotoxic in human bronchial epithelial BEAS 2B cells in vitro. This activity may be due to the fibrous nature of these carbon nanomaterials with a possible contribution by catalyst metals present in the materials—Co and Mo in CNTs (<5 wt.%) and Fe (<3 wt.%) in GNFs.

Toxicology Letters Volume 186, Issue 3, 8 May 2009, Pages 166-173 Toxicity of Engineered Nanomaterials

I'm sure Mezla knows what the hell this means, but it sure looks scary.

[Illuyankas]

Looks like an increased chance of lung cancer to me.