New Material: Intelligent Fabric Can Use Sunlight To Generate Heat To Keep Warm In Severe Cold

Wearable heater is not a new idea, but as highlighted by Life Science magazine, the existing solutions usually rely on expensive metal materials and battery powered heating elements, which need to be charged frequently - high cost (even the minimum) and limited time consumption. In addition, they are fragile and need special care when cleaning.

The key to this new intelligent fabric is the use of photothermal active polyaniline (PANI) and polydopamine (PDA) nanoparticles, which have impressive photothermal conversion capabilities. The research team led by chemical engineer Li Yuling also added temperature responsive dyes to make the fabric change color when heated.

Finally, this soft fabric has impressive warmth retention. In the test, when exposed to the solar radiation of 600 watts per square meter, this fabric rose from the ambient temperature of 20 degrees Celsius to 53.5 degrees Celsius in just 10 minutes. The color of the fabric has also changed, from red to white – an intuitive indicator of temperature change. After cooling, the fabric returns to its original color.

This material also has elasticity and durability. Its elongation is up to 500%, and even after 25 times of washing, it can keep warm and discolor.

It is worth repeating that since the heat of this fabric depends on the sun, it is not useful at night or in places where the sun cannot reach.

The team's research was published in the magazine Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials, with the title of "Color adjustable photochromic elastic fiber for flexible wearable heaters".

Li said that the next steps on the road of commercialization include reducing costs, expanding production scale, and ensuring that this material will not cause any harm to the wearer.