Integrated Thermal-Wet Comfort Textile of Bioinspired Sweat Transportation and Triboelectric Evaporation for Personal Perspiration Management.

Abstract

Despite millennia of use, conventional cotton textiles remain challenged by inefficient perspiration management. Inspired by the skin surface structure of a desert lizard, we propose an integrated thermal-wet comfort (i-TWC) textile featuring a gradient wetting structure. The design of the sweat gland-like sweat-wicking channel endows the i-TWC textile with an impressive 2 s one-way sweat transfer capability. Meanwhile, the introduction of a triboelectric field accelerates the evaporation of perspiration in the hydrophilic layer, ensuring the stability of the one-way water transfer. It is worth noting that the synergistic effects of the bioinspired sweat gland structure and triboelectric field result in a significantly improved evaporation rate (increased from 0.17 to 0.33 g h^-1) and show some potential for passive cooling of the human body (1.07 °C). This work offers valuable insights for personal moisture management fabric with directional transport ability, promising advancements in the field of thermal-wet comfort textiles.