Scalable Mie-Silk textile for dual-mode personal cooling indoors and outdoors

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Authors: Yida Wang, Xun-En Wu, Haojie Lü, Le Qi, Yaoyao Zhou, Shuying Wu, Jiongke Jin, Donghang Li, Peng Bi, Mei Zou, Siling Lin, Huarun Liang
+5 more Mengjia Zhu, Linli Gan, Wei Fan, Xiaochuan Dai, Yingying Zhang
Cited by: 6
References: 69

Abstract

Radiative cooling textiles are typically designed for specific indoor or outdoor conditions, limiting their environmental adaptability. Here, we report a continuously spun molecular interface–engineered silk (Mie-Silk) that integrates radiative and conductive cooling for effective body temperature regulation in diverse settings. The Mie-Silk has a natural silk yarn core with high mid-infrared (MIR) emissivity and a surface layer of ZrO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) enabling strong solar scattering based on the Mie scattering principle. Natural silk fibroin acts as a robust binder, anchoring the NPs on the silk surface securely. Woven Mie-Silk achieves outdoor radiative cooling through high solar reflectivity (92.54%) and MIR emissivity (97.13%) within the atmospheric window. Indoors, where radiative cooling is less effective, its thermal conductivity (0.19 watts per meter-Kelvin) facilitated by densely packed NPs provides obvious cooling capability. This Mie-Silk, with effective cooling across varied environments, represents a promising candidate for next-generation personal thermal management clothing.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies Radiative Heat Transfer Studies Optical properties and cooling technologies in crystalline materials

Publication details

Journal / source
Science Advances
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Volume
12
Issue
10
Pages
eaea4369–eaea4369
Publication date
4 March 2026
Language
EN