Self-cleaning windows are well known for their ability to function with airborne pollutants, but there is a growing industry for semi-permanent subaquatic optical devices, where the performance of such windows should be considered. Here sol-gel technology is explored as a means of producing self-cleaning, subaquatic, sapphire windows. We demonstrate removal of marine bacteria and, in the worst-case contamination scenario, dead North Sea crude oil (API 35). This greasy contaminant was smeared across the windows to effectively reduce optical transmission strength to just 54%. The titania-based sol-gel-coated windows can restore transmission to within 10% of the clean value in less than one day, unlike standard sapphire windows, which lose 68% transmission following contamination and aquatic submergence over the same duration. A range of theories to enhance the self-cleaning performance of the sol-gel coating were explored, but none of the tested variables were able to provide any enhancement for subaquatic performance.

中文翻译：

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亚水生自清洁窗的Sol-Gel涂料

自清洁窗户以其与空气污染物的功能而闻名，但是半永久性水下水上光学设备的行业正在增长，应考虑此类窗户的性能。在这里，溶胶-凝胶技术被视为生产自清洁，水下，蓝宝石窗户的一种手段。我们展示了去除海洋细菌的方法，以及在最坏的情况下污染的死海北海原油（API 35）。这种油腻的污染物被涂抹在窗户上，以有效地将光传输强度降低到54％。基于二氧化钛的溶胶-凝胶涂层窗户可以在不到一天的时间内将透射率恢复到清洁值的10％以内，这与标准的蓝宝石窗户不同，在相同的持续时间内，其污染和水浸后会损失68％的透射率。