Directly processing natural cotton into eco-friendly, highly thermal-insulating textiles via hierarchically self-locking structures

Abstract

Textiles, serving as a second skin for the human body, play a significant role in regulating the microenvironment temperature, and enhancing thermal comfort of the human body during cold weather. However, the most current methods for enhancing the warmth of fabrics involve complex chemical treatment or the application of advanced materials, thus suffering from potential chemical toxicity (especially for infants), complex processing and high cost. Herein, we report a simple strategy for directly processing cotton roving into environmentally friendly and structurally stable thermal-retention cotton textiles by means of hierarchically self-locking structures. The textile not only shows excellent heat-retention properties and mechanical firmness compared with conventional thermal insulation wadding and certain commercial blankets, but is also environmentally friendly and cost effective. This method may provide a new generation of thermal insulation materials with enhanced health and environmental benefits based on hierarchical structure design and natural textile materials.