Scientists Make Cloth That Can Be Flipped Inside Out To Feel Warmer Or Colder

A group of Chinese researchers have developed a new fabric that can be flipped to either keep you cool by expelling heat or by warm by trapping warm solar radiation. And while managing the temperature to the wearer¡¯s liking, it can even generate power.

Nano Letters

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Reported first by FastCompany, their findings have been published in Nano Letters. The shirt fabric is made of layers of polymer and cotton fibres engineered with special structures and coatings.

For keeping things warm, the material is coated in zinc and copper nanoparticles that absorb solar energy just like a solar panel however instead of turning sunlight into electricity, it turns into heat.

On the other hand, the cool side of the fabric gets an extremely thin layer of aluminium. The surface looks just like any other fabric however, the aluminium, due to its nature, reflects sunlight -- similar to a mirror -- causing the heat to bounce off the shirt. Moreover, the fabric has also been made porous, to enable sweat to evaporate.

All in all, this fabric is capable of keeping the wearer 14 degrees warm or 11 degrees cooler, depending on what side is on.

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But the coolest thing about this shirt is the ability to generate electricity. It does this with the help of a thermoelectric generator inside the Janus fabric from the difference in temperature between the hot and the cold sides. The power isn¡¯t considerable -- roughly around a watt, but this could easily power small sensors in future.

Representational Image: Getty Images

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According to the researchers, this fabric is more than just a concept -- it¡¯s actually practical to bring to the market. The fabric is not expensive to produce and it¡¯s also machine washable. Researchers do admit that the cooling efficiency takes a small hit after the first five washes but according to them, the wearer would barely notice that.

They conclude by stating that with rising extreme temperatures of our planet, such high-tech fabric could help us stay productive and live better lives in outdoor environments.