Adaptive Textiles Based on Recyclable High-Shrinkage Polyester for Personal Thermal Management

Conventional textiles face a significant challenge in maintaining personal thermal comfort under dynamically changing ambient temperatures, due to their intrinsic static thermal management mechanisms. To address this, an adaptive nanofiber membrane was developed based on recyclable high-shrinkage polyester (HSPET). This membrane achieves efficient "heating-cooling" bimodal switching through the synergistic effect of thermochromic microcapsules (TCMCs) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). At low temperatures, the membrane darkens to enhance solar energy absorption. At elevated temperatures, it lightens in color and, synergistically with the high infrared emissivity of PDMS, enables efficient solar reflection and radiative cooling. Outdoor testing revealed that the HSPET NMs exhibited a temperature increase of 4.62 °C and a decrease of 5.27 °C relative to control samples. Furthermore, the membrane exhibits excellent mechanical strength coupled with hydrophobic self-cleaning properties, ensuring reliability for practical applications. This work not only presents a high-performance bidirectional thermal management material but also proposes a novel pathway for the high-value resource utilization of waste polymers.