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Nanochemistry Activity 2

Superhero Costume Design

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Introduction

There are currently 216 nano-fabric clothing items listed in the Consumer Products Inventory (CPI) . The CPI is a list of nano-enabled products that have been identified by the manufacturer as such and are commercially available .

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Cotton and polyester are fabrics commonly used to make nano-fabrics. Nano-fabrics can be made in the following ways; through interweaving nanofibres, weaving nanofibres into fabric or through the coating of a polymer solution, containing nanoparticles, onto a fabric . However, nano-fabrics that are currently available commercially are made using the latter method. Nanofibres are fibres less than 100nm in width .

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Nano-fabrics offer a range of desirable properties such as water resistance, antibacterial and UV protection. The following activity is designed to help students gain an understanding of scale in nanotechnology-based products and their applications.

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Activity

You are the assistant to Edna ‘E’ Mode from
The Incredibles and are given the task of creating a
super costume for a superhero.

 

You will need to think about the following points when
designing your costume.

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Who is your superhero?

  • What are their powers?

  • Who are their enemies and what challenges might
    they face in their battles (e.g. Fireballs)?

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                                                                                         (Image from Pictography.co 2018)
What does your costume need?

  • What properties does it need to have?

  • What is a suitable base material(s)? (Cotton, polyester?)

  • What nanofibres/nanoparticles could you use to optimise performance and suitability of the costume for fighting baddies, given your hero's abilities?

  • What processes would be required to bind or incorporate these nanomaterials into your costume's base material?

  • What about costume shape - Will it have a cape? Gadgets?

  • What colour is optimal for fighting crime?

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Create an A3 poster displaying your newly created costume. To do this you must draw a labelled diagram of your superhero in the costume and annotate your drawing to show all of the nanomaterials required for construction and the base material(s). Provide an explanation for each nanomaterial chosen and how it is incorporated in the base material(s) (e.g. what nanofibres/nanoparticles does it contain?).

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Here are a few links that can help get you started:

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4695484/

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https://www.theguardian.com/science/small-world/2014/feb/14/nanotechnology-clothes-nanoparticles

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batman-car-comic-book-6633.jpg

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   References:​

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  1. The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, Clothing, <http://www.nanotechproject.org/cpi/browse/categories/health-and-fitness/clothing/>, 2018 (accessed 9 September 2018).
     

  2. ——Consumer Products Inventory, <http://www.nanotechproject.org/cpi/>, 2018 (accessed 9 September 2018).
     

  3. Study.com, Nanofibers & Nanotechnology in Textiles, <https://study.com/academy/lesson/nanofibers-nanotechnology-in-textiles.html>, 2018 (accessed 9 September 2018).
     

  4. Picography.co 2018, photograph, Pexels, retrieved 30 September 2018, <https://www.pexels.com/photo/batman-car-comic-book-hero-6633/>.

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