Successfully fabricated cooling fabric when hot and warm when cold

Scientists at the University of Manchester, UK have developed a smart woven fabric that can penetrate into adaptive clothing to keep the wearer cool in warm weather and vice versa.

This material uses graphene to adjust the changing heat radiation of the fabric. Graphene is a type of sheet made of carbon atoms linked together in a hexagonal fashion. This is the first two-dimensional material ever made, awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in physics.

This outfit has a patch on the chest that can be turned on or off to block heat or allow heat to pass through. (Photo: University of Manchester).

The new research has just been published in the journal Nano Letters . The breakthrough is based on previous work from the same team, in which they harness graphene's incredible ability to create thermal camouflage to hide wearers from infrared cameras. The material works through a small electric current that supplies the graphene layers embedded in the material.

Currently, the team is focusing on exploiting the positive role of the material to regulate the temperature of clothing in the textile industry.

The warmer the human body is, the more infrared it emits, so some clothes are designed to allow this radiation to freely pass through to help keep body temperatures low. On the contrary, when cold, it locks the heat to keep the wearer warm. The team has now adapted this technology to perform both roles, with the ability to flexibly switch between these two states through electrical adjustment.

The team demonstrated controlling this thermodynamic radiation by creating a piece of clothing with a device attached as a patch on the chest that can be turned on and off at will. The team hopes the new technology could be used for other purposes, such as interactive display designs and even space suits. In the near future, the team hopes to explore its potential in addressing extreme temperature fluctuations facing satellites in orbit.

Professor Coskun Kocabas, who led the research, said the next step of the research is to address the thermodynamic management needs of satellites orbiting the Earth. Orbit satellites experience too much heat, when faced with the Sun or cold in the dark regions of the Earth . 'Our technology can enable thermodynamic management of satellites by controlling thermal radiation and adjusting satellite temperatures as required'.