All-Weather, Multiscenario, Intelligent Durable Cooling Textiles

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2025 Jul 3. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5c08174. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Radiative cooling textiles offer a sustainable energy-free approach to human thermal management by dissipating body heat. However, existing designs often suffer from overheating and overcooling due to their inability to adapt to dynamic environmental changes across time and space. Here, we present an all-weather, multiscenario with self-regulation thermal management intelligent cooling textile capable of self-regulating human thermal comfort around an optimal body temperature of 26 °C. This innovation leverages a durable nanofilm coating with high solar reflectance (94.7%), thermal emissivity (93.6%), and phase change energy storage (110.5 J/g). When applied to commercial fabrics, the coated fabric delivers a pronounced cooling effect, reducing temperatures by 8 °C in hot environments (>26 °C) through heat absorption, while switching phase change exothermic mode to suppress overcooling and raise temperatures by 1.3 °C in cold conditions. This intelligent thermal regulation remains effective indoors and outdoors, as well as day and night. Notably, the coated textile demonstrates excellent breathability, durability, and washing resistance, highlighting the potential for commercial applications. This self-adaptive thermal management cooling technology unlocks new opportunities for advancing the design of next-generation intelligent textile applications.

Keywords: intelligent textile; radiative cooling; temperature adaptivity; thermal management; wearable.