Now that you have the answer to the age-old problem of how to make a dignified exit from a public restroom after washing your hands, you can confidently hold the door handle as you make your way out.

Because of their “illuminating” solution to the problem of bacteria-infested doorhandles, the two student inventors have been chosen as two of the twenty finalists for the international James Dyson Award.

In spite of the application of disinfectants and the regular cleaning of public spaces, the door handle of the restroom nevertheless provides a special problem.

Sum Ming Wong and Kin Pong Li, both of whom graduated from the University of Hong Kong, set out to devise a solution that would be self-powered and would do away with the use of chemical cleaners, which can be hazardous to the health of humans.

“Today, people use chemical cleaning products to clean public areas, but it is both easy to wipe off and damaging to the human body,” stated the creators of the new cleaning method.

“We developed a new cleaning method that eliminates both of these problems.” “Our design is both long-lasting and efficient,” the author writes.

They used components that cost only $13 per door handle and combined titanium dioxide powder and ultraviolet LED lights to efficiently develop a door handle that cleans itself.

This was accomplished by creating a self-cleaning door handle using resources.

In addition to this, they constructed a small gear box and generator to be attached to the door itself, which enabled it to function without external power sources.

The motion of opening and shutting the door produces enough kinetic energy to convert into sufficient amounts of power to keep the door handle lighted and operational.

Through the operation of a thin titanium dioxide layer that is coated on the outside of the clear handle, the handle is able to eliminate microorganisms.

Since the chemical is known to operate as a photocatalyst, when the UV rays activate the coating, the chemical combines with water or oxygen to produce hydroxyl radicals, which then destroy the bacteria. In laboratory studies, it was shown to destroy 99.8 percent of germs.

The duo became national winners of the Dyson Award, which recognizes the best in design and engineering, and this week they were named as finalists for the Dyson international prize, the winner of which will be announced in November.

Prior to this, the design had already won numerous technological awards and monetary prizes all over the world for its innovation.