BIFT collaborative research results with Tsinghua University on temperature-adaptive fabrics was published in the international academic journal Science Advances recently.

BIFT’s sustainable intelligent design technology team and an interdisciplinary team of Tsinghua University have worked closely together to jointly design a "temperature-adaptive smart fabric".

The link to the original paper published in the journal Science Advances.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr2062

The cover of that issue of Science Advances, Vol. 10, No. 41.

The research results demonstrate an innovative thermal management solution without additional energy consumption, realize the adaptive temperature regulation function of artificial fabrics, and provide a new sustainable solution for future lifestyles.

The research project was launched in 2021 and successfully developed a temperature-adaptive fabric that reflects sunlight at high temperatures to achieve radiative cooling and absorbs visible light at low temperatures for solar heating.

The link to the introduction of the results of the project on Nature’s Research Highlights search engine. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03350-0

To verify the thermal management capabilities and scalability of the smart fiber in actual scenarios, the team used smart fiber with a critical temperature of 25°C as a substrate to prepare clothing and tents that adapt to real environments. The smart fabric can be adjusted bidirectionally according to the ambient temperature: at low temperatures, the fabric is black and absorbs about 80 percent of the visible light for solar heating; at high temperatures, the fabric turns white, reflects sunlight, achieves radiative cooling, and expands the thermal comfort range by about 8.5°C.

Prototype of temperature-adaptive clothing design.

Prototype of a temperature-adaptive tent design 3.5 m × 2.9 m × 1.3 m

Smart fiber materials are easy to prepare, scalable and have excellent thermal management performance, which provide broad application prospects for regulating the temperature of the human body in various living environment, and also demonstrate the great potential of collaborative innovation between design and science.

Schematic diagram of temperature-adaptive dual-mode photonic fabric.

Dr. Song Jiajia, the main researcher in the project, pointed out: "This project is a practical attempt at multidisciplinary cross-integration, committed to realizing the integrated innovation of design, materials, technology and manufacturing methods."

Dr. He Shuang, a professor with the School of Fashion Accessory at BIFT  said: "In the design and production process, we always adhere to the concept of 'sustainable and intelligent integration' and are committed to achieving the goal of sustainable fashion."

Thermal responsive clothing design.

In addition, the team's design work "Thermal Responsive Clothing Design" has won the 2022 Red Dot Design Award and was nominated for a 2023 German Green Product Award, and it was invited to participate in the 2022 Dutch Design Week, Dutch Innovation Days and the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference and other exhibitions, showing the international community's high recognition and expectations for this innovative technology.

BIFT President and Professor Jia Ronglin, head of the cross-disciplinary discipline of clothing, praised the results of the project.

Jia said: "BIFT is committed to high-level scientific research, building a knowledge system of clothing, and promoting the quality of high-level talent training through the construction of interdisciplinary disciplines in clothing. On the other hand, it cultivates high-level academic research teams and trains a group of young academic backbones. This project is an important practice of BIFT's open innovation and resource integration to build interdisciplinary disciplines in clothing. We should encourage young academic backbones to cooperate extensively with domestic and foreign resources and actively produce influential research results."

Professor Lan Cuiqin, director of the BIFT Academic Committee and head of the clothing sustainable intelligent design technology research team, said: "This project is an important practical direction for our school to build an interdisciplinary discipline in clothing. It is an effective exploration of the feasibility path of design integrating technology, engineering, and artistic innovation. This result provides an important practical case for the construction of an interdisciplinary knowledge system in clothing."

BIFT attaches importance to the growth and development of young teachers, provides a broad research and development platform, and encourages collaborative innovation and cooperative research. The co-first authors of the study are Song Jiajia, a young scholar from the School of Fashion Accessory, and Zhu Kaixuan and Yao Houze, teachers from Tsinghua University. The corresponding author is Professor Qu Liangti of Tsinghua University; members of the team also include Song Jiajia and He Shuang, young teachers from the School of Fashion Accessory.

The core team members (in no particular order).

As one of the first approved units for the construction of emerging interdisciplinary platforms in Beijing, BIFT continues to innovate in the field of "clothing studies", focusing on clothing technology and design applications, and actively exploring the forefront of sustainable design. The clothing sustainable intelligent design technology research team collaborates to integrate design and technology, injecting innovative power into promoting sustainable development and the improvement of new quality productive force.