Superlight and Ultrathin Aerogel Functionalized Textiles for Personal Thermal Management in Extremely Cold Environments

ABSTRACT Aerogels are considered as promising thermal insulation materials for extreme environments owing to their ultra‐low thermal conductivity and density. However, their inherent brittleness and poor processability result in suboptimal performance in personal thermal management (PTM). To address these limitations, we introduce the aerogel functional unit strategy by using aerogel microparticles as functional building blocks to render the industrial‐scale production of aerogel‐functionalized textile coatings (AFTC) on closed‐pore polyethylene terephthalate textiles. The gradient pore structure formed by micron‐sized closed pores and nanoscale silica aerogel pores reduces the effective solid‐phase heat‐transfer contribution and suppresses gas‐phase heat transfer inside the material. In particular, the nanoscale pores of the silica aerogel contribute to Knudsen suppression of gaseous heat transfer, which helps AFTC achieve excellent thermal insulation in cold environments. The resulting material exhibits a CLO value of 0.434 and ultralow thermal conductivity of 0.0129 W/(m·K). Additionally, garments incorporating AFTC as interlayers are fabricated and tested at a snowfield with an altitude of 1168 m, in which the garments successfully maintain a body microenvironment temperature of 26.7°C. The AFTC advances the potential application of aerogel textiles in PTM, especially in plateau and high‐altitude districts with low oxygen content, extremely low temperatures, and strong winds.