Patent ID: 8617665

Claim:
A method comprising: (a) first producing a colored aluminum sheet product, the first producing step comprising: (i) first roll coating a colored coating liquid onto an aluminum alloy sheet; and (ii) first converting the colored coating liquid into a colored layer, wherein the colored layer is located on an outer surface of the aluminum alloy sheet; (b) second producing an intermediate aluminum sheet product, the second producing step comprising: (i) second roll coating an inorganic barrier coating liquid onto at least a portion of the colored layer of the colored aluminum sheet product, wherein the inorganic barrier coating liquid is in the form of an aqueous solution comprising silica; and (ii) second converting the inorganic barrier coating liquid into an inorganic barrier layer, wherein, after the second converting step, the inorganic barrier layer is located on at least a portion of the colored layer; and (c) third producing a colored self-cleaning aluminum sheet product, the third producing comprising: (i) third roll coating a portion of an aqueous-based self-cleaning coating precursor liquid onto at least a portion of the inorganic barrier layer of the intermediate aluminum sheet product; wherein, the self-cleaning coating liquid includes photocatalytically active semiconductor particles; (ii) third converting the aqueous-based self-cleaning coating precursor liquid into a self-cleaning layer, wherein, after the third converting step: (A) the self-cleaning layer is located on at least a portion of the inorganic barrier layer; (B) the photocatalytically active semiconductor particles are uniformly dispersed throughout the self-cleaning layer.