Multi-functional design of cellulose aerogel fiber-based textiles for advanced personal thermal management

Personal thermal management (PTM) technology has attracted considerable interests but is limited by material constraints. The emergence of aerogel fiber offers potential promising for the development of advanced functional composites facilitating multifunctional integration from 1D to 3D structures. In this work, 1D cellulose aerogel fiber (CCAF) reinforced with hydroxylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was fabricated to construct hierarchical PTM textiles. The obtained CCAF with 10 wt% CNTs amount exhibited a high fracture strength of 7.57 MPa, which was subsequently used to incorporate with polyethylene glycol (PEG) for the fabrication of phase change fiber (CCAF-P). The CCAF-P exhibited a fracture strength of 10.1 MPa at 11.2 % strain, a melting enthalpy ( ΔH m ) of 120.2 J/g, and exceptional durability and thermal cycling stability. For wearable PTM application, 2D phase change fabric was fabricated from CCAF-P blended with warp carbon fiber, exhibiting excellent thermal storage capacity, long-term cyclic stability, and outstanding photo- and electro-thermal effects. In addition, 3D composite textile could be assembled conveniently to realize effective infrared stealth and tunable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance. This innovative strategy demonstrates significant potential for thermal storage and management.