Advanced Textiles for Personal Thermal Management: Spectral Radiation, Directional Water Transport, and Dynamic Thermal Regulation

ABSTRACT

The maintenance of human thermal balance primarily relies on the “Skin–Textile–Environment” system. Given that regulating ambient temperature via air conditioning and other cooling devices exacerbates global energy consumption and climate warming, personal thermal management (PTM) textiles have attracted more attention in recent years. Theoretically, high‑performance PTM textiles can precisely regulate body temperature and humidity while maintaining reliable wearability. Considering the generally higher demand for cooling, this review elaborates on the design principles and methods of radiative cooling textiles from three perspectives: spectral regulation, directional water transport, and dynamic thermal regulation. In detail, based on indoor and outdoor environments, spectral regulation can be categorized into transmission‐type, emission‐type, and selective emission‐type. Directional water transport for evaporative cooling is classified into bilayer Janus, wettability gradient, and heterogeneous structures according to structural design. Dynamic thermal regulation includes adding phase change materials, setting up heat dissipation windows, and preparing double‐layer reversible fabrics, and so on. Furthermore, key challenges and insights are outlined in the future development of PTM textiles.