High-Performance Laminated Fabric with Enhanced Photothermal Conversion and Joule Heating Effect for Personal Thermal Management

Multifunctional wearable heaters have attracted much attention owing to their efficient application in personal thermal management. Inspired by the polar bear's thermal management, a laminated fabric with enhanced photothermal conversion, mid-infrared reflection, thermal insulation, and electrical heating performance was developed in this work, which was made of CNT/cellulose aerogel layers, cotton fabrics, and copper nanowire (CuNW)-based conductive network (CNN) layers. The CNN layer made up of highly conductive CuNWs not only exhibits better conductivity to realize the Joule heating effect but also possesses a human mid-infrared reflection property. Moreover, the other side of the cotton fabric was laminated with CNT/cellulose aerogel, which enables the fabric to have a good photothermal conversion ability and thermal insulation performance. The temperature of the laminated fabric could reach to 70 degrees C within 80 s under 1.8 V; it requires more than 500 s to return to room temperature (28.7 degrees C). When the light intensity was adjusted to 1000 W/m(2), the temperature of the laminated fabric was about 74.0 degrees C after lighting for 280 s. Our work provides a new approach to improving the performance and energy-saving of personal thermal management fabrics.

Automated summary

Inspired by the thermal management of polar bears, a multifunctional wearable heater with enhanced photothermal conversion, mid-infrared reflection, thermal insulation, and electrical heating performance was developed. It can quickly reach high temperatures and provide good insulation, showing potential for energy-saving personal thermal management fabrics.