{"id":36389,"date":"2026-03-23T10:32:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T04:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=36389"},"modified":"2026-03-23T10:32:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T04:47:48","slug":"scientists-develop-spray-on-coating-to-cut-laundry-water-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/scientists-develop-spray-on-coating-to-cut-laundry-water-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists develop spray-on coating to cut laundry water use"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1100\" height=\"734\" src=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36390\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash.webp 1100w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-675x450.webp 675w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-150x100.webp 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup>IMAGE: <em>Annie Spratt \/ Unsplash<\/em><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>London, March 23 <\/strong> \u2013 Scientists have developed a spray-on fabric coating that allows clothes to be cleaned using only water, potentially cutting laundry-related water and energy use by more than 80 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The coating, described in <em>Communications Chemistry<\/em>, can be applied to natural and synthetic fabrics. Researchers said it could reduce reliance on detergents, which contribute to microplastic release and water pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team, led by Chongling Cheng and Dayang Wang, sprayed alternating layers of two polymers \u2013 PDADMAC and PVS \u2013 to form five bilayers on fabric. The coating\u2019s dense sulphonate groups attract water molecules, preventing stains from sticking and enabling removal with a single rinse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tests showed the method matched or outperformed conventional detergent washing on cotton, polyester and silk, including stains such as engine oil and soy sauce. It also demonstrated antibacterial and antifungal properties. Safety tests on mouse cells and plants suggested the coating is biocompatible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers said the coating remained effective after sunlight exposure, repeated wear and more than 100 wash cycles, while reducing microplastic release from synthetic fibres. They estimate the higher upfront cost could be offset after 15 to 50 laundry cycles, depending on detergent use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis approach could make laundry more sustainable by cutting water, electricity and detergent use,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>London, March 23  \u2013 Scientists have developed a spray-on fabric coating that allows clothes to be cleaned using only water, potentially cutting laundry-related water and energy use by more than 80 percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash.webp",1100,734,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-200x200.webp",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-675x450.webp",675,450,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-768x512.webp",750,500,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash.webp",750,500,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash.webp",1100,734,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash.webp",1100,734,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash.webp",1100,734,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-870x570.webp",870,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-600x734.webp",600,734,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-600x600.webp",600,600,true],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-760x490.webp",760,490,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-550x360.webp",550,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-95x65.webp",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-640x734.webp",640,734,true],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-96x96.webp",96,96,true],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annie-spratt-laundry-unsplash-150x100.webp",150,100,true]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/category\/news\/chemistry\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Chemistry<\/a>","tag_info":"Chemistry","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36391,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36389\/revisions\/36391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}