A photocatalytic functional film has a structure of a substrate, a barrier layer and a photocatalytic layer stacked one on another. The barrier layer is a SiO.sub.2 film, the photocatalyst layer comprises an amorphous TiO.sub.2 film, and particles of visible light responsive photocatalytic material formed on the surface of the amorphous TiO.sub.2 film. A method for producing a photocatalytic functional film includes: adding an alcohol solvent and an acid to a silicate precursor to obtain a SiO.sub.2 sol by dehydration and de-alcoholization reaction; applying and drying the SiO.sub.2 sol on a substrate to form a barrier layer; adding an alcohol solvent and an acid to a titanium precursor to obtain a TiO.sub.2 amorphous sol by dehydration and de-alcoholization reaction; and applying and drying a composition formed by mixing particles of visible light responsive photocatalyst material with the TiO.sub.2 amorphous sol on the barrier layer, to form a photocatalyst layer.

A method for making a beam splitter with photocatalytic coating is disclosed. First, a TiO.sub.2—SiO.sub.2 sol, a SiO.sub.2 sol, and an anatase TiO.sub.2 preform sol are prepared. A glass substrate having two opposite surfaces is provided. The two opposite surfaces of the glass substrate is coated with the TiO.sub.2—SiO.sub.2 sol, the SiO.sub.2 sol, and the anatase TiO.sub.2 preform sol by dip-coating, thereby forming a coated glass substrate with a multi-layer optical coating on each of the two opposite surfaces. The multi-layer optical coating comprises a TiO.sub.2—SiO.sub.2 coating, a SiO.sub.2 coating, and an anatase TiO.sub.2 preform coating. The coated glass substrate is subjected to an anneal process. The coated glass substrate is cut, thereby forming the beam splitter with photocatalytic coating.

A water container for purifying water. The water container includes an opening configured to receive water, a container body arranged to enclose the water and a water purifying unit configured to purify the water. The water purifying unit includes an at least partially transparent plate, which includes a coating of metal-oxide nanoparticles on a first side facing the container body, wherein the first side is configured to be in contact with the water, and an ultraviolet light module configured to radiate towards a second side of the at least partially transparent plate such that light from the ultraviolet light module at least partially passes through the at least partially transparent plate. Also, a method for purifying water within a water container.

The invention provides a glass sheet or another transparent substrate on which there is provided a static-dissipative coating. The static-dissipative coating includes a film comprising titania. The film comprising titania preferably is exposed so as to define an outermost face of the static-dissipative coating. The static-dissipative coating is characterized by an indoor dust collection factor of less than 0.145.

A dielectric multilayer film is composed of a plurality of layers on a substrate. The plurality of layers includes at least one low refractive index layer and at least one high refractive index layer. The uppermost layer farthest from the substrate is the low refractive index layer. The high refractive index layer disposed on a substrate side of the uppermost layer is a functional layer containing a metal oxide with a photocatalytic function. The uppermost layer is a hydrophilic layer containing a metal oxide with a hydrophilic function and has pores that partially expose a surface of the functional layer. The average width of the pores is equal to or greater than 5 nm.

A coated glazing includes a transparent glass substrate and a coating located on the glass substrate. The coating includes at least the following layers in sequence starting from the glass substrate: a first layer having a refractive index of more than 1.6, an optional second layer having a refractive index that is less than the refractive index of the first layer, a third layer based on tin dioxide doped with fluorine, and a fourth layer based on titanium oxide, wherein the fourth layer is photocatalytic.

A low-reflection coated glass sheet of the present invention includes a glass sheet and a low-reflection coating. The low-reflection coating is formed on at least a portion of one principal surface of the glass sheet and contains a binder containing silica as a main component, fine silica particles bound by the binder, and fine titania particles bound by the binder. The low-reflection coating satisfies the following relationships: 30 mass %<C.sub.SP<68 mass %; 12 mass %≤C.sub.TP<50 mass %; 20 mass %<C.sub.Binder<43.75 mass %; C.sub.TP/C.sub.Binder≥0.6; C.sub.Binder<25 mass % in the case of C.sub.SP≥55 mass %; and C.sub.TP>20 mass % in the case of C.sub.SP<55 mass %. The low-reflection coated glass sheet has a transmittance gain of 2.0% or more.

A method of forming a titania-coated inorganic particle comprising the steps of: (a) agitating a mixture of inorganic particle and organic solvent; (b) adding titania precursor dropwise into the mixture of step (a) under agitation; and (c) adding catalyst to the mixture of step (b) thereby converting said titania precursor to titania which then forms a coating on said inorganic particle; wherein steps (a) to (c) are performed at neutral pH and ambient temperature.

Provided are a self-cleaning coating, a self-cleaning fiber, a self-cleaning carpet and uses thereof. The self-cleaning coating is provided with a porous structure where pores communicate with one another; the volume of the pores comprised in the coating makes up 20%-98% of the total volume of the coating; and the pore diameter of the pores in the porous structure is between 0.5 nm-50 nm. The self-cleaning coating is mainly prepared from host materials; the host materials are one or more of titanium oxide, zirconia, titanium nitride, silicon oxide, tungsten oxide, g-C.sub.3N.sub.4 semiconducting polymer, perovskite semiconductor, silver, iron, gold, aluminum, copper, zinc, tin and platinum.

A glass container has a container main body made of glass and a coating film formed on a surface of the container main body. The coating film is made of tin oxide or titanium oxide, and the film thickness of the coating film ranges from 40 nm to 50 nm. In the depth profile obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, an atomic percentage of sodium at a point where a tin or titanium profile intersects a silicon profile is 2% or less.