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Outdoor Personal Thermal Management with Simultaneous Electricity Generation
Hao Luo1, Yining Zhu1, Ziquan Xu1
1State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
Nano Letters
|April 23, 2021
Summary
This study introduces an eco-friendly nanostructured textile for personal thermal management. The innovative fabric provides localized heating and cooling, enhancing comfort for outdoor individuals and enabling power generation.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Textile Engineering
- Sustainable Technology
Background:
- Outdoor personal thermal comfort is crucial for health, but faces challenges from sunlight, radiative loss, and temperature fluctuations.
- Existing heating/cooling textiles lack efficiency in managing outdoor thermal environments.
- Advanced materials are needed for effective personal thermoregulation and energy harvesting.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an eco-friendly passive nanostructured textile for outdoor personal thermal management.
- To enable localized heating and cooling using harvested solar and outer space energy.
- To explore the potential for continuous electricity generation through thermoelectric modules.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of a passive nanostructured textile with Janus (dual-surface) properties.
- Testing heating and cooling performance against a skin simulator under sunlight.
- Integration with thermoelectric modules to measure electricity generation from temperature gradients.
Main Results:
- The nanostructured textile achieved a temperature increase of 8.1 °C and decrease of 6 °C in heating/cooling modes, respectively, under sunlight.
- Significant temperature gradients were created between the textile and skin simulator.
- Continuous electricity generation was demonstrated using integrated thermoelectric modules.
Conclusions:
- The developed Janus textile offers exceptional outdoor thermoregulation capabilities.
- It provides a promising solution for maintaining comfortable microclimates for individuals outdoors.
- The textile serves as a platform for pervasive power generation, combining thermal comfort with energy harvesting.
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