Weft-Backed Cooling Fabric for Personal Thermal and Moisture Management

Abstract

Abstract During intense physical activity or exposure to solar radiation in hot and humid environments, heat continuously accumulates at the body surface and induces excessive sweating, thereby increasing the risks of dehydration, heat exhaustion, and even heat stroke, which severely compromise human thermal and moisture comfort. Consequently, textiles with integrated heat and moisture management capabilities have attracted considerable attention. However, many reported materials still rely on electrospinning, multilayer membrane assembly, or complex postfunctionalization, which may limit scalable fabrication and single-textile integration. Herein, a PET/PLA Hybrid Weft-Backed Moisture-Cooling Fabric (HCF) was developed for personal thermal and moisture management. The fabric consists of an inner PET layer treated with a superhydrophobic (PDMS) coating, a moisture-transport middle layer composed of PET/PLA hybrid yarns, and an outer hydrophilic PLA/PLA layer spray-coated with highly scattering Al2O3 nanoparticles (NPs). Through a cost-effective weaving strategy, directional moisture transport and radiative cooling were effectively integrated into the fabric structure. The HCF exhibits a one-way moisture transport index (R) of 614%, while reverse water penetration is effectively suppressed, with an R value of –606%. The moisture evaporation rate reaches 0.25 g·h–1. In addition, the HCF demonstrates a solar reflectance (0.3–2.5 μm) of 90.80% and a mid-infrared emissivity (7–14 μm) of 92.46%. Under sunny outdoor conditions, HCF achieved an average subambient cooling of 10.4 °C relative to ambient air and was more than 5 °C cooler than conventional cotton fabric, indicating its potential to provide a cooler and drier skin-side microenvironment. This work offers a promising strategy for the design and application of advanced functional textiles, facilitating improved human adaptability to complex and dynamic environments.