We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Advances in Thermoregulating Textiles: Materials, Mechanisms, and Applications
Summary
This review covers advances in temperature-regulating textiles, including materials with phase-change properties, radiative cooling fabrics, and smart fibers that respond to body heat. While not focused on microplastics, the review is relevant because synthetic textiles are a major source of microplastic fiber shedding during production, wearing, and washing. Understanding textile technology developments helps identify which new materials might reduce or increase microplastic pollution from clothing.
Advancements in thermoregulating textiles have been propelled by innovations in nanotechnology, composite materials, and smart fiber engineering. This article reviews recent scholarly papers on experimental passive and active thermoregulating textiles to present the latest advancements in these fabrics, their mechanisms of thermoregulation, and their feasibility for use. The review underscores that phase-change materials enhanced with graphene, boron nitride, and carbon nanofibers offer superior thermal conductivity, phase stability, and flexibility, making them ideal for wearable applications. Shape-stabilized phase-change materials and aerogel-infused fibers have shown promising results in outdoor, industrial, and emergency settings due to their durability and high insulation efficiency. Radiative cooling textiles, engineered with hierarchical nanostructures and Janus wettability, demonstrate passive temperature regulation through selective solar reflection and infrared emission, achieving substantial cooling effects without external energy input. Thermo-responsive, shape-memory materials, and moisture-sensitive polymers enable dynamic insulation and actuation. Liquid-cooling garments and thermoelectric hybrids deliver precise temperature control but face challenges in portability and power consumption. While thermoregulating textiles show promise, the main challenges include achieving scalable manufacturing, ensuring material flexibility, and integrating multiple functions without sacrificing comfort. Future research should focus on hybrid systems combining passive and active mechanisms, user-centric wearability studies, and cost-effective fabrication methods. These innovations hold significant potential for applications in extreme environments, athletic wear, military uniforms, and smart clothing, contributing to energy efficiency, health, and comfort in a warming climate.
Sign in to start a discussion.
More Papers Like This
Advanced Materials for Clothing and Textile Engineering
Not relevant to microplastics — this is a special issue collection on advanced textile materials and clothing engineering, covering mechanical properties, thermal behaviour, and 3D garment modelling, with no direct microplastic pollution research.
Fabrics and Garments as Sensors: A Research Update
This review examines the latest research on smart fabrics and garments that incorporate sensors for monitoring physiological or environmental parameters, covering advances in fiber-based electronics, wearable health monitors, and environmental sensing textiles. The work is peripherally relevant to microplastics research as the field explores how textile technology could be redesigned to reduce fiber shedding.
The Production of a Smart Textile Using Trimethylolethane as the Phase Change Material
Researchers developed a smart thermo-regulating textile by coating polyester fabric with microencapsulated trimethylolethane hydrate phase change material produced via melamine-urea-formaldehyde polymerization, characterizing the resulting fabric using FTIR, SEM, and DSC to assess thermal regulation performance.
Perspective: A Sandwich Encapsulation Strategy to Mitigate PCM‐Based Microplastic Generation from Fibrous Materials
This perspective article proposes a 'sandwich encapsulation' design for phase change materials embedded in textiles, aimed at preventing the leakage of polymer microparticles from thermal-management fabrics. It is relevant to microplastic pollution because fibrous phase change materials are a largely overlooked source of microplastic emissions from technical textiles, and the proposed design offers an engineering solution.
Sustainable Textile Innovation: Biodegradable Fabrics and Their Role in Climate Action
This review argues that synthetic textile fibers are a major source of microplastic pollution and that a shift to biodegradable fabrics represents both an environmental necessity and an opportunity to fundamentally redesign how clothing is produced and consumed.