Here is an interesting kind of clothes wear. Experts are working on new textile material that can be worn to eep the skin cool in a globally warmed world. So you do not even need to switch on the fan or the air-conditioner.
Researchers from Stanford University, led by material scientist Yi Cui and colleagues, modified the kitchen wrap that is usually used to keep food fresh. They tried to put together a fabric by banking on nanoPE, or nanoporous polyethylene, which can keep the skin cool. Even though it is not really ready for use, it can be used to explore the possibility of designing clothes that keep the skin cool and help the body to release heat.
The cooling textile was found to reduce the temperature by 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
"We processed the material to develop a textile that promotes effective radiative cooling, while still having sufficient air permeability, water-wicking rate, and mechanical strength for wearability," the researchers wrote in their study. "Our processed nanoPE is an effective and scalable textile for personal thermal management."
The fabric acts as a coolant when it enables the seat to perspire. Another process of cooling is plastic textile that enables body heat as infrared radiation to escape the fabric.
Researchers employed photonics, nanotechnology and chemistry in order to make polyethylene, the plastic that is used in kitchen wrap, not to get transparent in visible light. Still, it enabled air, water vapor and thermal radiation to escape.
It was a variant of the polyethylene employed usually to make a battery. Its particular nanostructure makes the fabric "opaque to visible light but transparent to infrared radiation."
Scientists helped to allow the evaporation of water vapor molecules through the nanopores, making the textile "breathable".
The study was published in the journal Science on Sept. 2.
