Self-Cleaning Textiles for Publicly Shared Soft Surfaces: An Accessible and Scalable Photocatalytic Polyester System with Embedded Light-Emitting Diodes

Shared textiles used in public spaces (transportation, theaters, etc.) are notoriously difficult and expensive to clean, resulting in infrequent cleanings. To address these challenges, we developed a light-diffusing textile system with embedded LEDs that can self-clean, i.e., degrade organic stains and inhibit bacterial growth. Our self-cleaning textile system can be triggered at any time, bypassing the need for additional chemicals and manual cleaning. Specifically, we tested commercial titanium dioxide nanoparticles doped with nitrogen on polyester, applied four different ways (painting, rolling, spraying, and dip coating) with two different curing methods (7 days at room temperature and 10 min at elevated temperatures) and different textile surface pretreatments (no pretreatment, corona discharge, commercial primer, and corona discharge with commercial primer), and compared their efficacies using stain degradation testing and EDS analysis to arrive at the best performing textile cover. We then integrated LED fibers into this cover to create a self-cleaning system capable of autonomously cleaning the textile on demand. We evaluated our system through stain degradation experiments and bacterial testing, demonstrating that stain degradation increases linearly with the duration of exposure and LED intensity. Our results verify that our textile system effectively destains the textile in both dark and bright ambient conditions within 2 days and inactivates both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria up to 99% after 8 h of exposure. Finally, we stack LED fibers with reflective and diffusive textile layers for modularity and programmability. This self-cleaning system can be seamlessly integrated into public environments such as automotive or theater seatings, offering enhanced hygiene and cleanliness without compromising comfort.