Coating Cellulosic Material with Ag Nanowires to Fabricate Wearable IR-Reflective Device for Personal Thermal Management: The Role of Coating Method and Loading Level

Textiles coated with silver nanowires (AgNWs) are effective at suppressing radiative heat loss without sacrificing breathability. Many reports present the applicability of AgNWs as IR-reflective wearable textiles, where such studies partially evaluate the parameters for practical usage for large-scale production. In this study, the effect of the two industrial coating methods and the loading value of AgNWs on the performance of AgNWs-coated fabric (AgNWs-CF) is reported. The AgNWs were synthesized by the polyol process and applied onto the surface of cotton fabric using either dip- or spray-coating methods with variable loading levels of AgNWs. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared (IR) reflectance, water vapor permeability (WVP), and electrical resistance properties were characterized. The results report the successful synthesis of AgNWs with a 30 μm length. The results also show that the spray coating method has a better performance for reflecting the IR radiation to the body, which increases with a greater loading level of the AgNWs. The antibacterial results show a good inhibition zone for cotton fabric coated by both methods, where the spray-coated fabric has a better performance overall. The results also show the coated fabric with AgNWs maintains the level of fabric breathability similar to control samples. AgNWs-CFs have potential utility for cold weather protective clothing in which heat dissipation is attenuated, along with applications such as wound dressing materials that provide antibacterial protection.

Thermal, Waterproof, Breathable, and Antibacterial Cloth with a Nanoporous Structure

Wearable thermal management materials have attracted increasing attention because of the potential in energy conservation and the possibility to meet the need of smart clothes. An ideal cloth for cold areas has to be lightweight, warm, waterproof but breathable, and antibacterial. Herein, we present a multifunctional cloth starting from a cotton fabric, for which one side is modified to be superhydrophobic by introducing a silica nanoparticle/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer, while the other side is coated with a nanoporous cellulose acetate layer followed by depositing a thin silver film. The porosity allows the fabric to be breathable, and the silver film plays three important roles as a perfect infrared reflector, a flexible heater, and an antibacterial layer. Such a multifunctional fabric might be potentially useful in outdoor coats and other facilities.