Active cooling e-textiles for smart clothing

Abstract

Cooling function is definitely one of the most desirable attributes of clothing. In spite of the recent progress on phase change material (PCM) research, the final products with sufficient amount of cooling capability have not yet to be developed in market. A new concept of cooling fabrics has been proposed by applying Peltier effect to textile materials. It occurs whenever electric current flows through two dissimilar conductors; depending on the direction of current flow, the junction of the two conductors will either absorb or release heat. This effect has been tested on P-type and N-type conducting polymers. A P-type conductive polypyrrole coated fabric was synthesized by in-situ polymerization on plain weave PET to make conductive fabrics. A N-type electrically conductive material was synthesized by treatment of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCN) and polyethyleneimine (PEI). A noticeable amount of temperature difference has been found in the fabric.