Slippery concrete for sanitation
Dry toilets are still widely applied in the developing countries. Scientists have developed a new dry concrete toilet with a slippery surface that has a promising application prospect in maintaining hygiene.
Micro-scale porous structures, macro-scale grooves, and oil-storage tanks were designed and fabricated to trap and supply enough oil, thus forming a stable slippery oil layer and providing high self-healing ability. The artificial urine and excrement dropped on the slippery concrete toilet spontaneously and easily slid off without water-flushing.
Maintaining hygiene
Compared with the ordinary surface, bacteria and odor of 5 wt% ammonia water left on the slippery concrete surface were reduced by 64 % and 96 %. More interestingly, the slippery concrete toilet can be endowed with different colors to satisfy the different aesthetic requirements. Therefore, the developed slippery concrete toilet has promising application prospect in maintaining hygiene and reducing the spread of disease in many areas.
The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 171, October 2022.
