Key Takeaways & Executive Findings
- •• An innovative 3D self-folding fabric was fabricated by knitting technology to achieve dual thermoregulation modes through architectural reconfiguration between 3D and 2D states. • In the warming mode, the fabric retains its natural 3D structure, providing high thermal resistance (0.06 m2 K W−1) by trapping still air. In the cooling mode, it transitions to a 2D flat state with coatings of thermal radiative management materials, achieving a cooling effect of 4.3 °C under sunlight by enhancing solar reflectivity and infrared emissivity, while reducing thermal resistance. • The fabric demonstrates exceptional durability and washability, enduring over 1000 folding cycles, and is manufactured using scalable and cost-effective knitting techniques. • The fabric exhibits excellent breathability, sweat management, and flexibility, ensuring wear comfort and tactile feel under diverse conditions, making it suitable for wearable technology, extreme environments, and sustainable fashion.
Abstract
In the era of global climate change, personal thermoregulation has become critical to addressing the growing demands for thermoadaptability, comfort, health, and work efficiency in dynamic environments. Here, we introduce an innovative three-dimensional (3D) self-folding knitted fabric that achieves dual thermal regulation modes through architectural reconfiguration. In the warming mode, the fabric maintains its natural 3D structure, trapping still air with extremely low thermal conductivity to provide high thermal resistance (0.06 m2 K W−1), effectively minimizing heat loss. In the cooling mode, the fabric transitions to a 2D flat state via stretching, with titanium dioxide (TiO2) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coatings that enhance solar reflectivity (89.5%) and infrared emissivity (93.5%), achieving a cooling effect of 4.3 °C under sunlight. The fabric demonstrates exceptional durability and washability, enduring over 1000 folding cycles, and is manufactured using scalable and cost-effective knitting techniques. Beyond thermoregulation, it exhibits excellent breathability, sweat management, and flexibility, ensuring wear comfort and tactile feel under diverse conditions. This study presents an innovative solution for next-generation adaptive textiles, addressing the limitations of static thermal fabrics and advancing personal thermal management with wide applications for wearable technology, extreme environments, and sustainable fashion.
1. Introduction
In recent years, managing personal thermal comfort has become a critical area of research, particularly in the context of global climate change and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events [1, 2]. The regulation of thermal conduction and convection in textiles has been widely explored as a means to achieve personal thermal comfort, while controlling radiative heat transfer between the human body and its surroundings has also emerged as an efficient approach [3–5]. However, most existing methods focus on regulating a single thermal transport mechanism with fixed thermal properties, limiting their adaptability to rapidly changing environmental conditions.
In outdoor sports such as marathons or high-altitude activities [6], sudden extreme weather events can lead to rapid temperature fluctuations, posing significant risks to participants. These scenarios highlight the dual challenges faced by individuals in such environments: the need for effective solar protection during warm conditions and the risk of rapid heat loss during unexpected cold spells. Such situations underscore the limitations of traditional fabrics and clothing, which often lack the adaptability required to respond to dynamic and unpredictable environmental changes. This inability to adjust to rapid shifts in temperature can result in severe health risks, emphasizing the need for advanced textile solutions that can provide tunable thermal regulation to ensure safety and comfort in diverse conditions [7, 8]. Current solutions, such as adding or removing layers of clothing, are often impractical in outdoor or high-altitude settings, where carrying extra clothing is not feasible. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop advanced fabrics and clothing systems that can dynamically adapt to complex and rapidly changing environments, integrating flexibility, and dual-mode thermal regulations to provide effective protection against both overheating and excessive cooling.
Motivated by this demand, much research has been conducted to design materials with precisely tunable thermal properties.
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Xiaohui Zhang, Yuheng Gu, Xujiang Chao, Zhaokun Wang, Shitong Wu, Jinhao Xu, Ziqi Li, Mengjiao Pan, Dahua Shou (2025). All-Weather 3D Self-Folding Fabric for Adaptive Personal Thermoregulation. Nano-Micro Letters. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01812-2
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main innovation of this 3D self-folding fabric?
The fabric uses knitting technology to create a 3D structure that can reconfigure between 3D and 2D states, enabling dual thermoregulation modes: warming and cooling.
How does the fabric achieve cooling?
In cooling mode, the fabric stretches to a 2D flat state and uses TiO2 and PDMS coatings to enhance solar reflectivity (89.5%) and infrared emissivity (93.5%), achieving a cooling effect of 4.3 °C under sunlight.
What is the thermal resistance in warming mode?
In warming mode, the fabric maintains its 3D structure, trapping still air to provide high thermal resistance of 0.06 m2 K W−1, minimizing heat loss.
Is the fabric durable and washable?
Yes, the fabric endures over 1000 folding cycles and demonstrates exceptional durability and washability, making it suitable for practical use.
What are the potential applications of this fabric?
The fabric is suitable for wearable technology, extreme environments, and sustainable fashion, offering adaptive thermal comfort in dynamic conditions.
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