high tech textiles with nanodiamonds can cool body heat

Nanodiamonds used in high tech textiles for cooling

Researchers from RMIT University are using nanodiamonds to develop high-tech textiles that can help cool people down faster. In the study, they coated the fabric made from cotton with nanodiamonds using a method named electrospinning, a voltage-driven technology. The study found that high-tech textiles with nanodiamonds can help the wearer cool down by two to three degrees Celsius compared to ordinary or untreated cotton. The researchers say that the method of coating nanofibers with nanodiamonds onto high-tech textiles has strong commercial potential.

pulverized nanodiamonds | images courtesy of Cherry Cai, RMIT University

Nanodiamonds, known for their high thermal conductivity, remove and release body heat from the fabric. The RMIT University researchers also found that using nanodiamonds to create high-tech textiles can increase the UV protection of the fabric, including cotton, making the technology an ideal approach to manufacturing clothing for warm and hot seasons. This can also lead to reduced air conditioning use, potentially saving around 20 or 30 percent of energy in warm or hot weather. Because of this, it’s also possible to explore the use of nanodiamonds in infrastructure and construction to prevent buildings from overheating, leading to environmental benefits.

nanodiamonds, known for their high thermal conductivity, remove and release body heat from high-tech textiles

Protective high-tech textiles with nanodiamonds

Project lead and senior lecturer, Dr. Shadi Houshyar, says using nanodiamonds to create high-tech textiles can offer ways to develop fabric and clothing for sportswear and personal protective clothing, including underlayers to keep firefighters cool when they need to bust through ablaze properties. ‘While 2 or 3 degrees may not seem like much of a change, it does make a difference in comfort and health impacts over extended periods, and in practical terms, it could be the difference between keeping your air conditioner off or turning it on,’ says Dr. Shadi Houshyar.

using nanodiamonds to create high-tech textiles for sportswear and personal protective clothing may be possible

For biomedical field use too says RMIT University researchers

During the test, the cotton fabric was first coated with an adhesive, then electrospun with a polymer solution made from nanodiamonds, polyurethane, and solvent. It created a web of nanofibers on the cotton fibers, which were then cured to bond the two. It is the side of the high-tech textile with the nanodiamonds that touches the skin, so then the material absorbs the heat from the body and releases it into the air. Dr. Aisha Rehman, the study’s lead researcher and research assistant, says that nanodiamonds are also biocompatible, so they’re safe for the human body. ‘It has great potential not just in textiles, but also in the biomedical field,’ adds Dr. Aisha Rehman.

(left to right) research supervisor and senior lecturer Dr. Xin Wang; lead researcher and research assistant Dr. Aisha Rehman; project leader and senior lecturer Dr. Shadi Houshyar

Based in the Centre for Materials Innovation and Future Fashion (CMIFF), the research team of the study is made up of RMIT engineers and textile researchers who have expertise in developing high-tech textiles. Dr. Shadi Houshyar says that nanodiamonds are not the same as the diamonds used in jewelry. They’re also much smaller in size, even if they have a carbon lattice structure, and are easy to make using methods like detonation or from waste materials. ‘They’re actually cheap to make, cheaper than graphene oxide and other types of carbon materials,’ she says.

the electrospinning machine created a web of nanofibers on the cotton fibres, which were then bonded