Smart Fabrics Featuring Non-Iridescent Structural Color and Thermoregulation

Structural coloration of fabrics and phase-change thermoregulation are innovative development trends in the textile field. However, the inevitable assembly process of structural colors and the leakage of phase change materials make it extremely difficult. Herein, smart fabrics featuring non-iridescent structural color, and thermoregulation are developed by one-step loading of photonic nanopigments and phase change materials (PCMs). The photonic nanopigments are hollow silica (H-SiO 2 ) nanospheres with disordered metasurfaces that display non-iridescent structural colors without assembly. The used PCMs are lauric acid (LA) with solid-liquid phase change performance, which adsorb onto the surface of the H-SiO 2 nanospheres and form hydrogen bond cross-linkages with the oxyanions on the H-SiO 2 nanospheres surface. Among them, waterborne acrylic resin serves as an adhesive to immobilize the H-SiO 2 nanospheres and a cross-linker to form hydrogen bonds with molten LA, preventing its leakage. The resultant smart fabrics exhibit durable color stability and can withstand damage from diverse physical and chemical environments. The melting and crystallization enthalpy possessed are 38.94 and 40.51 J g⁻¹ respectively, endowing the smart fabrics with excellent thermoregulatory capabilities. This study offers a new paradigm for smart fabric advancement with structural color and thermoregulation.