Video: This Bikini Can Clean The Ocean When You Swim

By R. Siva Kumar - 19 Oct '15 09:35AM

You could go for a swim in the dirtiest part of the ocean and still claim to be an activist---if you wear a special cleaning bikini.

Scientists have created such a bathing suit, made of innovative material that can clean up the oceans, according to HNGN.

This reusable material, named the Sponge, is made of "heated sucrose", which repels water even as it absorbs pollutants, reported the University of California, Riverside.

"This is a super material that is not harmful to the environment and very cost effective to produce," said Mihri Ozkan, an electrical engineering professor at UC Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering.

This innovative design is incredible. It molds the sponge material, morphing it into a bikini and then "encapsulates it in a 3-D printed elastomer" that fits snugly into a body.

While the bikini absorbs more than 25 times its own weight, it does not let out the contaminants it has taken in unless it is heated to a "scorching 1,000 degrees Celsius". After being caught inside the pores of the sponge material, the pollutants do not touch the wearer's skin.

After being worn many times, the absorbent bikini can then be replaced and recycled, while the sponge can be used almost 20 times before it loses its capacity to absorb contaminants.

Patents have been filed by the UC Riverside Office of Technology Commercialization for these new inventions. This design won top place at the Reshape 15 Wearable Technology Competition and will be recognized at the Maker Faire in Rome on Oct. 16.