Analysis

Swimsuit cleans water

16th October 2015
Jordan Mulcare
0

A swimsuit has been designed, by the University of California, Riverside, which has the ability to clean water as the user swims. The swimsuit uses a material called Sponge, which is a reuseable material and is derived from heater sucrose, a form of sugar. The swimsuit repels water and absorbs harmful contaminats as it has a highly porous structure that is super hydrophobic.

The creators (Mihri Ozkan, Electical Engineering Professor; Cengiz Ozkan, engineering professor; Daisy Patino, Ph.D student; and Hamed Bay, former Ph.D student) believe that the water-repelling nature of the material could potentially be used in paint applied to airplanes and satellites or as part of electromagnetic shields for UAVs.

The design moulds the Sponge material into the shape of a bikini and encapsulates it in a net-like cage made of 3D-printed elastomer that forms to the body. The material could also be incorporated into things such as bathing suits, swimming caps and wet suits.

The material can absorb up to 25 times its own weight and only releases the absorbed materials when it is heated at a temperature exceeding 1,000°C. Incase of touching the skin, the contaminats are trapped in the inner pores of the material. The pads can be replaced and also recycled. The material can be used a maximum of 20 times.

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