Anthropocene Magazine · Space

Printable Textile Combines Cooling and Power Generation

Researchers have developed a novel printable textile that can cool the wearer while simultaneously generating electricity from human motion, potentially reducing reliance on external power sources.

This new material, created at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, integrates cooling and power-generating functions into a single printable fabric, unlike previous multi-layered approaches.

The demand for cooling is projected to increase significantly by 2050 due to climate change and increased affordability of air conditioning, highlighting the need for energy-efficient cooling solutions.

Conventional air conditioning is energy-intensive and uses environmentally harmful gases, making personal cooling technologies that consume less energy crucial.

The developed textile utilizes passive radiative cooling, emitting absorbed heat into space, and reflects nearly all sunlight.

It also incorporates triboelectric nanogenerators, which produce electricity from the contact and separation of dissimilar materials.

The composite textile, made with zirconium oxide and printable using direct ink writing, effectively scatters sunlight and accumulates charge, reflecting 96% of incoming sunlight and maintaining temperatures 3–6°C below ambient in direct sunlight during tests.

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