Eray Carbajo's Spongesuit features a patent-pending material created by engineers at University of California, Riverside (Photo via RESHAPE15 Wearable Technology Competition 2015.)
TEXTILE TECH
Designing a Cleaner Bikini
Swimmers, surfers and other watersport enthusiasts tend to be good stewards of our oceans. Imagine if you could help clean the ocean just by diving in.
That’s what engineers at the University of California, Riverside, have done with their new reusable material they’re calling Sponge.
The patent-pending material, which is made from a heated sucrose, has a porous—sponge-like—structure that repels water but absorbs other materials. Researchers see applications for the material in cleaning up oil or chemical spills or desalinizing water.
“This is a super material that is not harmful to the environment and very cost effective to produce,” UCR Electrical Engineering Professor Mihri Ozkan told UCR Today. Ozkan worked with her husband, engineering professor Cengiz Ozkan, current Ph.D. student Daisy Patino, and Ph.D graduate Hamed Bay.
The UCR team worked with Pinar Guvenc, Inanc Eray and Gonzalo Carbajo, partners of architecture and design firm Eray Carbajo to craft a swimsuit which incorporates the Sponge material in a 3D-printed flexible elastomer frame.
According to UCR, the Sponge material “can absorb up to 25 times its own weight.” It won’t release the absorbed material until it’s heated above 1,000 degrees Celsius (or 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit). Plus, the contaminant material is “trapped in the inner pores of the sponge material,” so it will not touch the wearer’s skin. Testing has shown that the material will retain absorbency and reused up to 20 times. After that, the sponge part of the suit can be replaced and recycled.
Earlier this year, the Spongesuit won an award for their design at the Reshape 15 Wearable Technology Competition, organized by Barcelona-based Noumena Architecture and went on to be featured at the Maker Faire in Rome this month.
