Our mission is the realization of the key theme of the 21st Century: assuring a safe living environment in harmony with the global environment. 

What are photocatalysts?

Photocatalysts have two properties:

One:  an oxidative decomposition property whereby their
catalytic action when exposed to ordinary light (ultraviolet
light) dissolves organic substances, odors or stains into
water and carbon, rendering them harmless, and a
hydrophilic property that attracts hydrogen from the
surrounding air and forcing it under dirt and stains
attached to windows or other surfaces to fill it with water
and wash it away.

Two: The material that causes this amazing catalytic reaction is
the mineral titanium oxide, which has previously been used
in a wide variety of everyday applications as white pigment,
white paint, in cosmetic foundations or lipstick, chewing
gum and white chocolate. It is also a recognized food
additive, making it a material beyond compare, harmful to
neither humans nor animals.

The Effects of Photocatalysts

ANTIFOULING The self-cleaning effect of natural forces such as
rainwater works to keep the walls of buildings, windows,
and signboards free of dirt or stains.

RESISTANCE TO ULTRAVIOLET Photocatalysts in external walls adsorb over 80% of the
ultraviolet from the sun, protecting the walls and base
materials from ultraviolet and extending their life.

LESS NEED FOR REPAINTING Applying photocatalysts greatly extends the life of walls
and makes excellent savings in expenses on repairs or
repainting over the long term.

IMPROVED SCENERY The action of the sun and the rain work to keep the
external appearance of buildings free of dirt, making
them keep their freshly built look for years. This can also
improve the occupancy rate of apartment blocks.

REDUCED CLEANING COST Placing photocatalysts in places usually unreachable for
cleaning will greatly reduce costs for cleaning high places
or using scaffolds. Photocatalysts have been used in the
external window glass of Kansai International Airport,
reducing costs in cleaning high places to an eighth of
what they were previously. Photocatalysts have also
been incorporated into the Chubu Centrair International
Airport at its completion.

THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT Photocatalysts clean pollution from the air. Their use in
numerous buildings all over the world will the make the
world’s air that much cleaner. As a material, they are also
environmentally friendly.

MOLD PREVENTION The powerful hydrophilic and organic oxidative
decomposition properties of photocatalysts make them
highly effective for preventing mold or stains. They also
dissolve disease-causing bacteria, lowering infection rates.

BACTERIAL ERADICATING / ANTI- BACTERIAL The powerful oxidative decomposition caused by photocatalysts is effective even against such viruses as Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and E. coli! Its antibacterial properties are also effective as a measure against the disease-causing bacteria that plague hospitals, nursing homes and restaurants.

ANTI-VOC/FORMALDEHYDE The organic oxidative decomposition property of
photocatalysts works to dissolve or render harmless VOC (volatile organic compounds) and formaldehyde, the causes of sick building syndrome, greatly improving the internal environment of buildings.

DEODORIZATION The oxidative decomposition property of photocatalysts
gets rid of even the substances causing odors, whether cigarette smoke, pets, toilets or medicinal odors at hospitals and nursing homes.

What is Easy Coat?

	Easy-coat	Previous Photocatalysts
	Catalytic reaction	Catalytic reaction
Visible light rays	Catalytic reaction	No catalytic reaction
In darkness (night)	Adsorptive photocatalytic rotary reaction The ability to adsorb substances remains unchanged; bacteria and other substances are adsorbed	No catalytic reaction   The ability to adsorb substances is lost, no bacteria or other substances are adsorbed
Binding agent	No binding agent   The surface forms a film of catalysts covered with titanium hydroxide sol only, giving a high level of catalytic efficiency	Organic binding agents   The titanium dioxide (powder) is easily hardened, but the photocatalytic reaction dissolves the binding agent itself	Inorganic binding agent   The photocatalytic reaction does not affect the binding agent, but even when large amounts of titanium dioxide used, the only effective parts will be those that rise to the surface.
Transparency	The clear film doesn’t affect the base coloring	Unless the film is made superfine the surface becomes cloudy white.
Application method	Easily applied by spraying, impregnation, roll coating etc	Requires skilled techniques
Solvent application price	Low	High

EASY COAT WORKS

A-) APPLICABLE WITHOUT A BINDING AGENT The binding agent acts like an adhesive to attach to the target surface and has to be used to apply the titanium oxide
(TiO2)-based powder. This involves both costs and time when applying the titanium oxide. Easy-coat is a liquid solution based on titanium hydroxide (Ti(OH)) with a mixture of amorphous and anatase-type particles whereby a special manufacturing method has succeeded in bringing the theoretical value of the primary particles close to 1.27nm. After drying this results in a solution called compound crystal titania, a mix of Ti(OH)x, TiO2 (anatase-type) and TiO2 (rutile-type) that attaches firmly to the target surface. This crystallization can occur at room temperature (20℃, 25 days), making application
without a binding agent possible. The application process is also much simpler and involves no costs. If a binding agent is used only some of the photocatalysts are present on the surface, but in the case of Hanno-coat a superfine coat (10-20 nanos) can be achieved, bringing all the photocatalysts to the surface to give rise to a stronger photocatalytic effect. The size of previous photocatalytic powders has been from 1-10 microns.

B-) REACTION TO VISIBLE LIGHT AS WELL AS ULTRAVIOLET RAYS Standard photocatalysts only react to ultraviolet rays (making up approximately 3％ of sunlight, and almost non-existent in incandescent lamps). Easy-coat can react to visible light (normal light) as well as to ultraviolet rays. This is achieved by changing the white titanium hydroxide to red by a special process whereby it is kept in a hyperoxic state. Having been rendered red, it adsorbs blue light well and uses part of its energy to cause the photocatalytic reaction.

C-) ACTIVE 24 HOURS Easy-coat adsorbs bacteria and organic substances at night when no light shines, and dissolves these when the light of the day shines on it. This means it works on a 24-hour basis, called the rotary reaction.