A Visible-Opaque Infrared-Modulator Fabric for Human Body Thermoregulation at Low Temperatures
Optimizing textiles for enhanced passive radiative thermoregulation properties represents a significant step forward in technological innovation. To achieve this goal, we fabricated and characterized a visible-opaque infrared-modulator fabric (VOIMF) that can provide the human body with continuous thermoregulation at low temperatures. The fabric is a bilayer emitter composed of a polyethylene (PE) membrane and an ultrathin gold (Au) layer. The PE membrane contains randomly dispersed titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) microparticles (MPs). By flipping the fabric, we demonstrate that the VOIMF can modulate the emissivity toward the environment in the mid-infrared range, thereby providing a thermal comfort zone over a large temperature range of ∼ 10 °<i>C</i> (from 6.7 to 16.8 °C). Moreover, the VOIMF is opaque in the visible (VIS) range and exhibits a white appearance, similar to cotton, due to the high light scattering property of TiO<sub>2</sub> MPs.
Authors
- Michele Carette
- Mohamed Boutghatin
- Vincent Thomy
- Yan Pennec
- Bahram Djafari Rouhani
- Yannick Coffinier
- Claire Pirim
- Valérie Gaucher
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Université de Lille (FR)
- Institut d'Electronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie (FR)
- Unité Matériaux et Transformations (FR)
- Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules (FR)
- Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (FR)
- École Centrale de Lille (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Omega
- Published
- 2026-02-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.5c10457
- Primary Topic
- Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Interreg