Emissivity Regulated Fabric: Achieving Self-Adaptive Radiative Cooling and Dynamic Body Radiation Manipulation

Abstract

Effective manipulation of radiative cooling power is crucial for thermal management systems. However, the potential for radiative cooling regulation through emissivity modulation in textiles remains unexplored. As a proof-of-concept, a self-adaptive radiative cooling fabric (SARCF) is presented, exhibiting high solar reflectance and variable infrared emissivity. The SARCF is created by depositing tungsten doped vanadium dioxide (W-VO₂) nanoparticles on low-emissivity (low-e) fabrics, followed by welding with nanoporous polyethylene (NanoPE). SARCF demonstrates significant solar reflectance (85.19%) and a promising emissivity contrast (Δɛ, 34.82%) for radiative cooling regulation, driven by the temperature-induced phase transition of W-VO₂. Indoor and outdoor tests reveal that SARCF outperforms low-emissivity fabrics and white cotton, providing better warming (3 °C higher than low-emissivity fabrics) and cooling (4.67 °C lower than cotton) performance. The coated low-e fabrics also demonstrated exceptional robustness-accelerated washing (10 cycles) retains >96% Δɛ, while abrasion test (2000 cycles) preserves 94.8% Δɛ, confirming mechanical integrity under operational stresses. In summary, this study introduces a novel fabric prototype that achieves temperature-induced emissivity variation and high solar reflectance, marking a significant advancement in personal thermal management through radiative cooling modulation.

Keywords: dynamic radiative cooling; emissivity modulation; personal thermal management; phase transition.