Scientists at Zhejiang University invented the "Polar Bear sweater": it is only 1/5 thick, but it is more warm than it.

CTOnews.com, December 22 / PRNewswire-Asianet /-- A professor at Zhejiang University, inspired by a thick polar bear sweater, created a super-warm man-made fiber by imitating the "core-shell" structure of Arctic bear hair.

The project is led by Bai Hao, a professor at the School of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, and Gao Weiwei, an associate professor in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering. the whole project took 6 years to develop, and the results were published in Science magazine on December 22.

▲ research schematic map (picture source: Bai Hao research group) this super-warm man-made fiber not only has the thermal insulation function of traditional thermal insulation materials, but also can "block" the infrared radiation of the human body, greatly improve the tensile resistance and other mechanical properties, can be directly woven, can really wear aerogel on the body.

The left picture of ▲ shows the microstructure of Arctic bear hair; the picture on the right shows the microstructure of bionic Arctic bear hair. The center of this super-warm man-made fiber is polymer aerogel, with slender pores about 10-30 microns in diameter, arranged in the same direction, like "warehouses" for storing air. At the same time, a layer of TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer) shell wraps the aerogel inside.

The new ▲ fiber is washable, it will not shrink after washing, and the warmth keeping effect is still the same.

The researchers tested the ▲ bionic polar bear hair design in a freezer at minus 20 degrees Celsius in the school canteen. A few minutes later, the surface of the cotton sweater rose to 10.8 ℃ and the surface temperature of the down jacket rose to 3.8 ℃.

The thickness of the sweater is similar to that of the wool sweater, and the surface of the "polar bear sweater", which is only about 1/3 to 1/5 down sweaters, only rises to 3.5 ℃. The less the temperature rises, the less the human body loses heat, and this material is better than other "competitors".

▲ warmth Challenge for all kinds of clothing and fabrics CTOnews.com with paper reference address:

Mingrui Wu et al.,Biomimetic, knittable aerogel fiber for thermal insulation textile.Science382,1379-1383 (2023).

DOI:10.1126/science.adj8013 .