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 (TiO2) 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 °C (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 TiO2 MPs.