title: Reversible Humidity Sensitive Clothing for Personal Thermoregulation.
abstract: Two kinds of humidity-induced, bendable smart clothing have been designed to reversibly adapt their thermal insulation functionality. The first design mimics the pores in human skin, in which pre-cut flaps open to produce pores in Nafion sheets when humidity increases, as might occur during human sweating thus permitting air flow and reducing both the humidity level and the apparent temperature. Like the smart human sweating pores, the flaps can close automatically after the perspiration to keep the wearer warm. The second design involves thickness adjustable clothes by inserting the bent polymer sheets between two fabrics. As the humidity increases, the sheets become thinner, thus reducing the gap between the two fabrics to reduce the thermal insulation. The insulation layer can recover its original thickness upon humidity reduction to restore its warmth-preservation function. Such humidity sensitive smart polymer materials can be utilized to adjust personal comfort, and be effective in reducing energy consumption for building heating or cooling with numerous smart design.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.|State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Center for Composite Materials and Structures, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, China.
authors.forename: Fenghua
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Structural Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Calvin J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Gunwoo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronautical Science and Mechanics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Yanju
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Center for Composite Materials and Structures, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, China.
authors.forename: Jinsong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leng
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.|Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Sungho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.|Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Renkun
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D003020:Clothing; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity