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Spending time outside during a heat wave can be sweaty and uncomfortable, It even poses a health risk.But scientists have come up with an innovation they say may provide relief: clothing that physically cools the body.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a flexible chalk-based coating that can be added to fabrics. During tests in scorching summer heat, they found that the coating reduced the temperature under clothing by up to 8 degrees Fahrenheit compared to air, and up to 15 degrees Fahrenheit compared to untreated fabrics.
The innovation is one of a number of efforts to turn people's clothing into a tool against extreme heat, which is increasing As humans continue to burn fossil fuels that heat the planet, heat is the most deadly type of extreme weather, causing Heat stress and even heat strokea potentially fatal disease in which the body loses the ability to cool itself.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts say they wanted to develop a way to cool fabrics using an environmentally friendly material. Inspired by traditional limestone plaster used to cool homes in hot climates, they coated the fabric tiles with particles of calcium carbonate — the main component of limestone and chalk.
The coating was able to reflect the sun's energy back into the atmosphere, as well as allow the wearer's natural body heat to escape, according to their new study, which is currently undergoing peer review and was presented to the American Chemical Society this month.
“We start with your cotton shirt… and we apply this coating to one or both sides of the fabric,” Trisha L. Andrew, a chemist and materials scientist at the University of Massachusetts, told CNN. “The coating is on the entire surface. It doesn’t penetrate or change the fibers of the cotton.”
The scientists say the coating can be applied to almost any commercially available fabric, and can also be washed in the washing machine.
“Without any energy input, we are able to reduce a person’s temperature, which can be a valuable resource as people struggle to stay cool in extremely hot environments,” Evan Batamia, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts who worked on the innovation, said in a statement.
Cooling fabrics aren't a new invention, but previous designs often involved rigid structures, complex manufacturing processes, and electrical components, according to a 2023 study. Scientific review From research on cooling fabrics, making them uncomfortable to wear and expensive.
The MIT development is part of a growing body of research exploring cheaper, more comfortable and scalable alternatives as the threat of extreme heat increases around the world.
Scientists from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, used tiny particles called nanodiamonds to coat cotton fabric, resulting in a temperature drop of up to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to untreated cotton, according to a new study.
That may not sound like much, but “it makes a difference in comfort and health effects over long periods, and in practice could be the difference between turning the air conditioner off or on,” Shadi Hoshyar, project leader and senior lecturer at RMIT, said in a statement.
A study by RMIT University has found that using cooling fabrics may lead to… Save energy by 20-30% Due to the reduced use of air conditioning, which is considered highly polluting to the climate Cooling tool.
Nanodiamonds may seem expensive, but researchers say they are not like diamonds used in jewelry. “They are actually cheap to make,” says Hoshiar.
She added that there are still improvements to be made. For example, they found that the efficiency of the nanodiamond fabric decreased after the fabric was washed several times.
Nanodiamonds work in a similar way to the limestone particles used by the University of Massachusetts, Hoshiar told CNN. The principle behind these studies is the same, she added, using nanoparticles to transfer heat away from the body.
Hoshyar, who has been researching protective clothing for more than a decade, said the production process used by UM is promising but they will need to figure out how to scale it up and keep costs down.
She said cooling fabrics should be affordable for everyone. “If it costs three times as much as regular fabric, it won’t be enough for everyone to use.” The poorest people are often among those most exposed to and able to tolerate extreme heat. minimum access For cooling techniques.
As more products enter the market, there are “a lot of opportunities in this space to expand it to become available to everyone,” Hoshyar added.
Andrew of the University of Massachusetts said her team has so far been limited by the size of their lab equipment. However, through a new startup, they aim to start pilot production, making sheets of the treated fabric 5 feet wide and 300 feet long.
Andrew said the raw material costs for the paint are “low to manageable,” but he agreed that the overall price will increase slightly due to the application process, during which the paint is applied to the fabric.
If it proves possible to scale up production of affordable cooling fabrics, the benefits could extend beyond clothing, some researchers say.
Scientists at the University of Chicago hope Their cooling fabricFabric made from materials like silver nanowires and wool could also be used to cool buildings and cars. In tests conducted under the blazing Arizona sun, researchers found that the fabric stayed 16 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than a commercial silk fabric often used in summer clothing.
The scientists said that the wider use of cooling fabrics would reduce the costs and impacts of air conditioning on the climate. “Our civilization actually uses About 10 to 15% “We use total energy just to make ourselves feel comfortable wherever we go,” said Po-Chun Hsu, a professor of molecular engineering at the University of Chicago and an author of the study, in a statement.
While extreme heat treatment means quickly reducing the burning of fossil fuels, Deadly heat waves Cooling fabrics already exist, and some scientists believe they could play a useful role as more people become exposed to heat that their bodies can't tolerate.
“Cooling personal textiles show great promise in addressing the heat-related impacts of climate change,” Xueping Zhang, a professor specializing in personal heat and humidity management at Donghua University in China, told CNN, who was one of the authors of a 2023 scientific review of cooling fabrics.
“It can provide localised cooling to specific areas of the body with high precision,” she added, and can be designed to suit different environments.
She sees cooling fabrics playing a broader role soon. “As materials and technology advance, personal cooling fabrics will become available for general use in the near future.”
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