Chemist Tony Ryan from the University of Sheffield and artist/designer Helen Storey, professor at London Design College, have together created a novel clothing label, Catalytic Clothing. The clothing is made of air-purifying textiles, and a catalyzed denim kilt will be showcased at the Edinburgh International Science Festival at the end of March. Tony Ryan, who will wear the kilt, has devised a way of spraying a fabric with photocatalysts to scrub at least one major pollutant — nitric oxide — from the air. When light shines on the photocatalyst it responds to the water in the air and breaks down into two hyper reactive molecules or radicals.
These radicals catch on to the nitric oxide and breaks them down. Those that aren’t broken down are harmlessly washed away when the fabric is laundered. Ryan estimates that if everyone in the British city of Sheffield wore catalyzed clothing they could reduce the nitric oxide — a gas that contributes to climate change — to bring the city within safe limits!
Previous collaborationsbetween professors Ryan and Storey have included installations of pollutant reducing jeans in various U.K. parks entitled “Field of Jeans,” and plastic dresses that dissolve in water.The goal of the pollutant scrubbing kilt and the prior Catalytic Clothing exhibits is not unlike the clothing itself — to be a catalyst for change. The team believes fashion is an accessible way to put forward the idea of fighting pollution and the buildup of greenhouse gasses.The concept of the climate change kilt is a great way to get people thinking and talking!