Boron nitride nanosheets enhanced the thermo-optical properties of cotton fabric for energy saving and personal heat management

Herein, we report a cooling fabric with thermal conduction and radiative cooling capabilities through grafting hydroxylated boron nitride (BN-OH) nanosheets onto the surface of cotton fibers. The thermal conduction layer formed by BN-OH nanosheets enables the modified fabric with excellent thermal conductivity, which is 42% higher than that of the original cotton fabric. Resulting in the modified fabric exhibits great cooling power and increases the cooling setpoint temperature by 1 °C, which corresponds to reduced 11.2% indoor cooling energy consumption. Additionally, the Mid-infrared emissivity and solar reflectivity are increased to 90% and 70.4%, respectively, suggesting that wearing modified fabric under direct sunlight can enable the artificial skin to avoid overheating by 7.8 °C compared to bare skin. Moreover, the modified fabric also presents a considerable contact cool feeling, impressive wearability, and durability. We expect this work to present new insights for the design of personal thermal management textiles. Graphical abstract