Weavable coaxial phase change fibers concentrating thermal energy storage, photothermal conversion and thermochromic responsiveness toward smart thermoregulatory textiles

Smart thermoregulatory textiles based on phase change materials (PCMs) provide thermal comfort for humans. However, single mode of smart thermoregulatory textiles is difficult to meet the practical thermal regulation requirement, and current research focuses on the fabrication of thermoregulatory fibers, there is few literatures reporting the preparation of thermoregulatory textiles. Herein, smart thermoregulatory textiles concentrating the mode of thermal energy storage, photothermal conversion and thermochromic responsiveness were fabricated in this work. Core-sheath phase change fibers (PCFs) were prepared with polyurethane (PU) as the sheath material and octadecane (OD) as the core materials by coaxial wet spinning. Titanium carbide (Ti3C2), as excellent solar absorber, was added into the sheath layer to achieve efficient photo-to-thermal conversion. The PCFs were woven to fabrics with weaving machine, and the fibers coated with thermochromic microcapsules were seamed on the fabrics to provide thermal suggestion. The phase change enthalpy of PU@OD PCFs could reach up to 185.00 J/g, and as-woven fabrics exhibited prominent photothermal conversion efficiency (90.01 %) and sensitive thermal responsiveness at about 31 °C. These outstanding features make smart thermoregulatory textiles promising in energy saving and personal thermal management.