Thermal energy storage cotton clothing

Can natural cotton textiles be used in thermal management applications?

Developing natural cotton textiles in personal thermal management applications is of great significance for defending human against adverse climate conditions. However, the intrinsic low optical energy conservation of cotton in terms of human mid-infrared radiation and solar spectrum prevents it from realizing high-efficient thermal retention.

What is thermal management clothing?

The clothing acts as a thermal switch between the human body and the environment to manage the thermal comfort. The past decade has witnessed the fast development in thermal management clothing.

Which clothes are used for thermal management?

The more conventional adaptable clothes which are used for thermal management are heat or cold packs and wraps; they are commonly the cause of discomfort owing to their rigid structure and considerably heavy weight, in addition to non-uniform as well as uncontrollable heating or cooling (Guo et al. 2016).

What materials are used to make thermal management clothing?

High IR reflection (or low emissivity) materials, such as metals (aluminium, silver, copper and steel), non-metals (TiO 2 and SiO 2) and semiconductors (indium tin oxide (ITO) and Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO)), have been applied to the fibers to fabricate the thermal management clothing.

What is the role of clothing in reducing heat stress?

Therefore, the main duty of clothing changes to blocking extra heat from the environment from reaching the human body and to relieve the heat stress from the human body (Kanjana and Nalankilli 2017; Zhou et al. 2005). To reduce the heat conduction from the environment, lightweight materials with low thermal conductivity should also be used.

Is cotton a good insulation material for warm clothing?

Therefore, cotton fibers are considered as a promising material for thermal insulation. However, their application in warm clothing is limited by their high mid-infrared emission and low solar spectrum absorption.