Textile engineers from Japan have developed a fabric that can adapt to surrounding temperature making the wearer comfortable.

The fabric, developed out of super-fine nano-threads, can heat up and cool down when the outside temperature is low or high. The specialty of the nano threads, woven together to make the fabric, is that they contain a phase-change material (PCM) that is able to store and release large amounts of heat.

The fabric is intended for thermal management for humans, though it can be used to regulate the temperature of electronic equipment and batteries. Those working in cold storage, baking and related industries who face different temperature levels as part of their work could use the new technology. Sudden shift between different temperatures causes them illness, and constantly changing clothes for different temperature could be inconvenient.

The engineers pursued a method called coaxial electro spinning, a method to manufacture fiber diameters in nanometres, encapsulating the PCM at its centre. Then they coupled the new fiber with the techs of photo responsive materials and an electro thermal conductive coating. The former absorbs heat from sunlight, and the electro thermal coating converts excess heat into electricity. However coaxial electro spinning is a complicated process with strict spinning requirements, such as the need for a laboratory setting. Also the conductive polymer used in the fiber is expensive.