Functional textiles and composite based wearable thermal devices for Joule heating: progress and perspectives

Abstract Balancing personal thermal comfort is crucial through controlled heating for thermal management and energy saving. The traditional thermo-regulation systems consume a vast amount of energy to maintain thermal comfort. Thus, advanced materials and strategies have been devised to design wearable devices that minimize energy consumption as well as enhance thermal comfort through heating at an individual level. This review has critically discussed the recent advancements in wearable heating devices, focusing on strategies that have been used for developing advanced textiles and composite structures to regulate heat transfer between the human body and environment for personal heating. The review starts with a discussion on the fundamentals of thermal comfort and thermal management that are prerequisites for advanced electronic heating devices. Subsequently, the approaches for incorporating active and passive heating devices into the traditional textiles utilizing their intrinsic strength, flexibility, and conformability have been presented. The next section focused on the materials used for the fabrication of heating devices including, 1D materials (Carbon nanotube) and 2D materials (Graphene, MXene), metallic nanomaterials, and conducting polymers. Finally, the concept for the design and development of advanced thermoregulation textiles and composites for next-generation personal thermal management (PTM) devices have been presented. The concluding section highlighted the research gap and domains where further research endeavors can be directed.