title: Radiative human body cooling by nanoporous polyethylene textile.
abstract: Thermal management through personal heating and cooling is a strategy by which to expand indoor temperature setpoint range for large energy saving. We show that nanoporous polyethylene (nanoPE) is transparent to mid-infrared human body radiation but opaque to visible light because of the pore size distribution (50 to 1000 nanometers). We processed the material to develop a textile that promotes effective radiative cooling while still having sufficient air permeability, water-wicking rate, and mechanical strength for wearability. We developed a device to simulate skin temperature that shows temperatures 2.7° and 2.0°C lower when covered with nanoPE cloth and with processed nanoPE cloth, respectively, than when covered with cotton. Our processed nanoPE is an effective and scalable textile for personal thermal management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Po-Chun
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: E. L. Ginzton Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Alex Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: E. L. Ginzton Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Catrysse
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Yucan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: E. L. Ginzton Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Shanhui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. yicui@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D003020:Clothing; D003080:Cold Temperature; D018594:Human Body; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D058608:Nanopores; D020959:Polyethylene; D012034:Refrigeration; D012881:Skin Temperature
chemical_list: D020959:Polyethylene