User-adjusted warmth: Squid-inspired fabric adapts to your temperature needs

At times, we may find ourselves uncomfortable, wearing a jacket yet feeling too hot, or too chilly without one.

Sportswear solves this problem by using fabrics that can adjust to temperature, but wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could manage our clothing’s temperature?

University of California, Irvine researchers have now invented a way to manufacture a material that can adjust its temperature.

The new material allows for airflow, can be easily cleaned, and even be incorporated into various flexible fabrics. It’s designed to keep you comfortable in any weather.

Interestingly, this new fabric material draws inspiration from the impressive color-changing properties of squid skin.

“Squid skin is complex, consisting of multiple layers that work together to manipulate light and change the animal’s overall coloration and patterning,” said Alon Gorodetsky, the study author.

Gorodetsky added: “Some of the layers contain organs called chromatophores, which transition between expanded and contracted states (upon muscle action) to change how the skin transmits and reflects visible light.”

Based on infrared radiation

This bioinspired composite material works based on the infrared spectrum — the same way thermal cameras function.

When people’s body temperature rises, they give off some of their heat as invisible infrared radiation. The clothing is designed to regulate its temperature based on the wearer’s body heat.

Particularly, it is equipped with “thermoregulatory features” that can be manipulated.

These features allow the material to change its properties in response to the detected infrared radiation. By adjusting its properties, the clothing can effectively control the wearer’s temperature.

The material is composed of a polymer base covered with tiny copper islands. When the material is stretched, these copper islands are separated from each other. This change in the arrangement of the copper islands affects how the material interacts with infrared light and adjusts its thermal properties.

It has various applications

The team improved their composite material by making it washable, breathable, and suitable for integration into fabrics. To achieve this, they added a thin film for washability, perforated the material for breathability, and attached it to a mesh for fabric integration.

The modified material allowed for the passage of air and water vapor, similar to cotton fabrics.

As per the press release , the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to see how the material interacted with infrared light.

Moreover, they used “a sweating guarded hot plate” to evaluate the “thermoregulatory properties.”

They found that the modifications did not compromise the material’s heat-regulating properties.

“Our advanced composite material now opens opportunities for most wearable applications but may be particularly suited for cold weather clothing like ski jackets, thermal socks, insulated gloves, and winter hats,” said Gorodetsky.

“The strategies used for endowing our materials with breathability, washability, and fabric compatibility could be translated to several other types of wearable systems, such as washable organic electronics, stretchable e-textiles, and energy-harvesting triboelectric materials,” said Gorodetsky.

The findings were published in the journal APL Bioengineering.