Bionic Development of a Real Cool-Fabric with the Properties of Transparentizing Mid-IR and Reflecting Near-IR

In this project, we will develop a textile finishing process to turn a low-cost polyolefin fabric into a bionic IR-selectively-reflecting cooling-fabric for summer garment. It is a solution to the key problem of current commercial fabric, i.e. its near-IR reflectivity is too low to block unwanted solar-heat and its mid-IR reflectivity is too high to dissipate excess body-heat radiation. Polyolefin fabric is the main component of our proposed bionic IR-selectively-reflecting cooling-fabric and works as a mid-IR-transparent fabric for the efficient dissipation of body-heat radiation. Meanwhile, it is coupled with a Saharan silver ant micro-hair structure which can selectively improve the solar-heat-shielding efficacy of mid-IR-transparent fabric while still leaving its mid-IR radiative cooling properties intact. The proposed bionic IR-selectively-reflecting cooling-fabric is expected to have high near-IR reflectivity to repulse excessive solar-heat and low mid-IR reflectivity to allow for the efficient dissipation of body-heat radiation. Summer garment produced with our bionic IR-selectively-reflecting cooling-fabric can significantly improve thermal comfort in the hot summer, preventing hyperthermia and reducing the expense of the air conditioner.