The fight against pollution has always been an ongoing battle with numerous ideas being thrown in to the pit and tested whether they are feasible or not. But many of these ideas become reality.
The newest technologies for fighting pollution enables people to be front liners in the battle, one of the biggest business when it comes to combating pollution is wearable technology.
One of these wearable technologies is the ecofriendly bikini made by a team at the University of California.
Wearable technology is not a new thing; there have been air purifying clothing that was recently developed but there is none that can help in water pollution, until now.
A team at the University of California, led by husband and wife electrical engineer, Mihri and Cengiz Ozkan created a pollution absorbing bikini. As an entry in the Reshape 15 Wearable Technology Competition, the bikini was created where it brought home the first prize
The team worked with design firm, Eray Carbajo.
The bikini itself was created with numerous layers to ensure optimal absorption of pollutants and at the same time ensuring the protection of the wearer against this pollutant.
The base layer of the bikini top consists of 3D printed elastic netting, which they safeguarded to be very comfortable when worn. Place in the bikini's netting are opaque inserts made from material known as Sponge.
The sponge is the most important part of the bikini because it is the one that absorbs the water pollutants. The sponge has been used to absorb oil during oil spills or during desalinizing sea water.
It is created from heated sucrose. Despite the sponge being hydrophobic, it can absorb water pollutants extremely well.
The sponge in the bikini can absorb pollutants up to 25 times its own weight without becoming saturated with water, while the bearer of the bikini is protected due to the pollutants being stored in pores in the sponge.
