Higher Education Commission (HEC) scholar Munir Ashraf, pursuing his PhD in GEMTEX in France, has won a prize entitled “Theophile Legrand International Prize for Innovative Textiles”. Ashraf was conferred the prize by French Academy of Science Vice President Philippe Taquet. Twelve researchers of 10 different nationalities studying in different universities of Europe had presented their works for that prize, says a press release issued here on Wednesday.
It said Munir’s work was declared the best among them and was awarded a prize of 10,000 euros with a certificate and a shield. “I developed a multi-functional textile by growing nano rods of ZnO on polyester fabric. This fabric cleans itself like lotus leaves. There is no possibility of its staining by colours dissolved in water but if it gets stained by colorants dissolved in low surface energy solvents like acetone, no need to wash it, just expose the fabric to UV light the colour will disappear automatically due to photocatalytic effect of ZnO. The fabric has ability to kill the bacteria if attached on the surface and hence it prevents their growth,” said Muneer in his acceptance speech.
