Electro-Modulation of MXene Within the Natural Porous Structure of Leather for Wearable Infrared Thermal Camouflage

Conventional infrared camouflage materials for the human body often cause significant thermal discomfort and are susceptible to generating detectable super-cooled or hot spots. Here, we present a MXene/natural leather composite fabricated through a sequential electro-modulation strategy that largely overcomes this conflict. By exploiting the intrinsic structural gradient of natural leather, synergistic alternating and direct current electric fields drive the self-limiting assembly of MXene nanosheets into a highly oriented, dense layer precisely confined beneath the leather grain surface. This tailored architecture decouples heat conduction from thermal radiation, where the macroporous flesh layer acts as a phonon-scattering thermal barrier that blocks body heat, and the sub-grain MXene layer serves as a highly efficient mid-infrared reflector. Concurrently, the grain layer functions as a smoothing filter, providing compensatory emission and enhanced scattering to eliminate unnatural thermal signatures. Thus, the composite achieves long-lasting (70 min), durable (150 days of natural aging, 5 wash-dry cycles, and 300 friction and folding cycles), omnidirectional and environmentally adaptive thermal camouflage. Remarkably, the composite retains nearly 50% of the intrinsic breathability and water vapor transmission rate of natural leather. This work establishes a versatile structural engineering approach for developing next-generation wearable stealth and personal thermal management technologies.