Fig. 2: Wicking performance, thermal resistance and transient droplet evaporation test of the i-Cool (Cu) textile. | Nature Communications

Fig. 2: Wicking performance, thermal resistance and transient droplet evaporation test of the i-Cool (Cu) textile.

From: Integrated cooling (i-Cool) textile of heat conduction and sweat transportation for personal perspiration management

Fig. 2

a, Photograph of as-prepared i-Cool (Cu) textile. Scale bar, 1 cm. b, SEM image of nylon 6 nanofibres in the pores of heat conductive matrix (blue dash box) and on the top of heat conductive matrix skeleton (red dash box). Sweat tends to be transported to the nanofibres on the heat conductive matrix skeleton due to the morphology difference. Scale bar, 1 µm. Inset is the magnified photograph of the bottom side of i-Cool (Cu) textile showing its integrated heat conduction channels and water transport channels. The holes are 2 mm in diameter and 3 mm pitch. Scale bar, 4 mm. c, Wicking rate of the i-Cool (Cu), cotton and other commercial textiles. It shows how fast water underneath the textile can be pulled up and spread on the top surface. Double asterisks, Statistical significance between the i-Cool (Cu) and labeled sample, Welch’s t-test p < 0.1; Asterisk, Statistical significance between the i-Cool (Cu) and labeled sample, Welch’s t-test p < 0.001. d, Thermal resistance of the i-Cool (Cu), cotton and other commercial textiles measured by cut-bar method (See more discussion in Supplementary Note 2). Asterisk, Statistical significance between the i-Cool (Cu) and labeled sample, Welch’s t-test p < 0.001. e, Schematic illustration of the transient droplet evaporation test. f, Average skin temperature and average evaporation rate of the i-Cool (Cu) textile and the conventional textiles (initial water amount: 0.1 mL, skin heater power density: 422.5 W/m2). Asterisk, Statistical significance of average skin temperature between the i-Cool (Cu) textile and other textile samples, Welch’s t-test p < 0.001. Statistical significance of average evaporation rate between the i- Cool (Cu) textile and other textile samples, Welch’s test p < 0.001. g, Fitted average evaporation rate of i-Cool (Cu) and cotton versus initial water amount at different skin temperature. All the error bars represent standard deviation of measured data.

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