LCF Presents Catalytic Clothing (written for SIX Magazine)

Erin O'Connor in a still from Catalytic Clothing Film. Image by Adam Mufti, courtesy of LCF

Last week SIX Magazine was invited down to the headquarters of the London College of Fashion for the launch of their latest innovation; Catalytic Clothing.
Created in partnership with University of Sheffield and University for the Arts London, Catalytic Clothing is a collaboration that brings together the spheres of fashion and science, to explore how textiles and nanotechnology can be used to form a catalytic surface to purify the air in our environment.

Catalytic Clothing’s aim is to harness the power of a photocatalyst to break down airborne pollutants such as industrial pollutants and car exhaust fumes. Catalytic Clothing materials reorder the electrons in the constituent atoms of the fabrics to create a more reactive surface. These outer electrons then react with the water molecules in the air breaking them into two radicals (extremely reactive molecules). These radicals then react with the pollutants creating non-harmful chemicals as an end product.

Read the rest of the article here.