Even if soy sauce, ketchup, or engine oil gets on a white shirt, rinsing with water alone makes it clean. That is because the fabric has a self-cleaning coating that blocks stains. With shorter wash times, water and electricity use drop sharply. If commercialized, it is expected to save resources and greatly reduce microplastic pollution from the washing process.
A research team led by Wang Dayang of the chemistry department at Jilin University in China said on the 20th that it developed a spray-on fabric coating that lets you wash clothes with only water, in Communications Chemistry, a sister journal of Nature. The team said the stain-blocking coating can be applied to both natural and synthetic fibers and can reduce water and energy consumption in the washing process by more than 80%.
◇Polymer layer repels grease
The team created a kind of protective barrier on the fabric using two polymer materials. When poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC), which carries a positive charge, and poly(vinyl sulfonic acid) (PVSA), which carries a negative charge, are sprayed alternately, they attract each other to form a robust polymer layer.
The polymer layer formed on the fabric is rich in hydroxyl groups (−OH), each composed of one hydrogen and one oxygen atom, making it highly hydrophilic. When a soiled fabric is rinsed, the hydroxyl groups in the polymer layer immediately form strong hydrogen bonds with water. This creates a thin water film between the fiber surface and the grease. When the grease cannot penetrate the fibers and instead floats in the water, a light rinse is enough to clean the garment.
The team said that in tests with three types of clothing materials—cotton, silk, and polyester—the coating removed a range of stains such as soy sauce, engine oil, Chinese pepper oil, vinegar, and ketchup, with performance equal to or better than conventional laundering. On ordinary cotton textiles, most grease remains after rinsing with only water, but with the self-cleaning coating, cleaning efficiency exceeded 90%, the team said.
Conventional washing machines wash by agitating clothes with water and detergent, rinsing multiple times, and then spinning. Clothes with a self-cleaning coating are finished by simply rinsing with water, without detergent. That cuts water and electricity use and shortens washing time. Compared with a conventional cycle of one wash and four rinses, the team estimated that each wash could reduce consumption of water, electricity, and time by more than 80%.
◇Economical enough, likely to help the environment
The team also tested whether the self-cleaning coating affects humans or the environment. When adzuki beans were grown separately in water used to rinse the coated clothes and in regular tap water, there was no difference in plant growth. Tests of the self-cleaning coating on mouse skin cells also showed no issues. The self-cleaning coating showed the same washing effect in hard water rich in minerals, like groundwater or spring water, as in tap water. Ordinary detergents lather poorly in hard water, greatly reducing washing performance.
Of course, applying a polymer layer that prevents contamination to fabric adds extra cost. But the team estimated that depending on the detergent type, the initial coating cost is offset after 15 to 50 washes. Given that a person does at least 100 loads of laundry a year, the self-cleaning coating can be considered sufficiently economical. The team said the self-cleaning coating was not damaged even after more than 100 washes.
Factoring in environmental protection benefits yields immediate gains. Surfactants, which separate grease in detergents, are a main culprit in water pollution. Surfactants do not readily break down in nature. When they flow into rivers, they form foam films that block sunlight and oxygen. Washing with only water and no detergent can prevent such problems. It also simplifies household wastewater treatment. The team noted that rinsing lightly with water reduces the amount of microplastics shed from synthetic fibers by a large margin.
◇Self-cleaning fabrics inspired by lotus leaves
There is a famous example in nature that resists dirt: the lotus. Though it lives in muddy water, its leaves are spotless. In 1997, Wilhelm Barthlott, a botanist at the University of Bonn, revealed that microscopic protrusions on lotus leaves prevent water droplets from penetrating and cause them to roll off. In the process, dust on the surface is also washed away.
The surfaces of the microscopic protrusions on lotus leaves have a waxy layer that repels water. Air pockets between the protrusions block the entry of foreign substances. As a result, droplets mixed with contaminants cannot enter between the protrusions; they hang on the tips and fall off with slight movement. Scientists call this the "lotus effect."
Schoeller Textil, a Swiss textile company, developed NanoSphere technology in 2001 by mimicking lotus leaves to create microscopic surface textures on fabrics. Several sportswear brands sell waterproof and stain-repellent products made with this technology. Like lotus leaves, when beverages or ketchup spill on clothing, the liquid slides along the surface before it stains.
Oil does not respond to the lotus effect. That is because the protrusion surfaces on lotus leaves are covered with a waxy layer that is oleophilic. In 2008, a research team led by Gareth McKinley of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) mechanical engineering department published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) a microscopic protrusion structure that oil also cannot penetrate. The team calculated the optimal spacing to maintain an air layer between protrusions. When the gaps were narrower than those of lotus leaves, even oil dropped from a height did not penetrate and fell like a water droplet.
The microscopic protrusion structure of lotus leaves is also vulnerable to impact. Heavy rain can damage its self-cleaning function. The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University found an answer in the pitcher plant, which uses sticky secretions to make insects slip inward.
In 2014, the team published in Nanotechnology a fabric with SLIPS coating technology, short for "slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces." By applying a lubricant to the protrusion surfaces, contaminants were made to slip off. Kim Pil-seok, then at the Wyss Institute and now chief technology officer of SK Innovation and head of the Environmental Science and Technology Institute, also participated as a co-author.
Self-cleaning garments are expensive. That is because creating microscopic structures on fabric surfaces costs a lot. They are still sold only in niche markets such as high-performance sportswear and outdoor gear. But as microplastics from clothing become a serious environmental issue, interest in self-cleaning technology is growing. Lotus leaves and pitcher plants may soon appear frequently in apparel advertisements.
References
Communications Chemistry (2026), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-026-01942-7
Nanotechnology (2014), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/25/1/014019
PNAS (2008), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0804872105