Janus-Type Hydroxyapatite-Incorporated Kevlar Aerogel@Kevlar Aerogel Supported Phase-Change Material Gel toward Wearable Personal Thermal Management

Thermal comfort is of great significance to maintain people's healthy state in physics, physiology, and psychology. Personal thermal management (PTM) that passively regulates the immediate environment around the human body has been proposed as a promising strategy to realize on-demand human thermal comfort. In this work, we propose a one-stop solution for the state of the art PTM by combining thermal shielding and thermal energy storage in a Janus-type wearable device, which is named a Janus-type hydroxyapatite-incorporated Kevlar aerogel@Kevlar aerogel supported phase-change material gel (HKA@KPG). The lower HKA with an ultralow thermal conductivity directly attached on the skin can effectively hinder heat transfer from the external environment to human skin. The upper KPG possessing a superior form stability and high energy storage capacity can absorb the heat generated by the human body to regulate the skin temperature. Both the HKA and KPG also demonstrate excellent biocompatibility. Due to its synergistic effect in thermal energy regulation, the Janus HKA@KPG has been applied in wearable PTM in static and dynamic modes to meet the thermal comfort requirements. It is anticipated that the one-stop thermal comfort solution for thermal shielding, thermal energy storage, self-supporting characteristics, wearability, and biosafety offers new possibilities for the next generation of wearable PTMs.

Automated summary

Thermal comfort is crucial for maintaining people's health in physics, physiology, and psychology. This study proposes a wearable device called Janus HKA@KPG, which combines thermal shielding and thermal energy storage to achieve personal thermal management. The device consists of a low thermal conductivity material for insulation and a high energy storage material for regulating skin temperature. It offers a one-stop solution for thermal comfort.