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Vol. 17 (2025)

Muscle-Inspired Anisotropic Aramid Nanofibers Aerogel Exhibiting High-Efficiency Thermoelectric Conversion and Precise Temperature Monitoring for Firefighting Clothing

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01728-x
Zhicai Yu
State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, People’s Republic of China
Yuhang Wan
State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, People’s Republic of China
Mi Zhou
State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, People’s Republic of China
Md Hasib Mia
State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, People’s Republic of China
Siqi Huo
School of Engineering, Centre for Future Materials, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central 4300, Australia
Lele Huang
State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, People’s Republic of China
Jie Xu
State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, People’s Republic of China
Qing Jiang
State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, People’s Republic of China
Zhenrong Zheng
School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, People’s Republic of China
Xiaodong Hu
College of Material and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Engineering, Xiangtan 411104, People’s Republic of China
Hualing He
State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, People’s Republic of China
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0793-7723

Corresponding Author: Hualing He

hehualinghe@126.com

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 17 (2025), Article Number: 214

Abstract

Enhancing the firefighting protective clothing with exceptional thermal barrier and temperature sensing functions to ensure high fire safety for firefighters has long been anticipated, but it remains a major challenge. Herein, inspired by the human muscle, an anisotropic fire safety aerogel (ACMCA) with precise self-actuated temperature monitoring performance is developed by combining aramid nanofibers with eicosane/MXene to form an anisotropically oriented conductive network. By combining the two synergies of the negative temperature-dependent thermal conductive eicosane, which induces a high-temperature differential, and directionally ordered MXene that establishes a conductive network along the directional freezing direction. The resultant ACMCA exhibited remarkable thermoelectric properties, with S values reaching 46.78 μV K−1 and κ values as low as 0.048 W m−1 K−1 at room temperature. Moreover, the prepared anisotropic aerogel ACMCA exhibited electrical responsiveness to temperature variations, facilitating its application in intelligent temperature monitoring systems. The designed anisotropic aerogel ACMCA could be incorporated into the firefighting clothing as a thermal barrier layer, demonstrating a wide temperature sensing range (50–400 °C) and a rapid response time for early high-temperature alerts (~ 1.43 s). This work provides novel insights into the design and application of temperature-sensitive anisotropic aramid nanofibers aerogel in firefighting clothing.


Highlights:
1 Muscle-inspired anisotropic aramid nanofibers thermoelectric aerogel was prepared via directional freeze-drying strategy.
2 Resultant anisotropic aerogel exhibited high-efficiency thermoelectric conversion with Seebeck coefficient of 46.78 μV K−1 and low thermal conductivity of 0.048 W m−1 K−1.
3 Thermoelectric aerogel-based multistage wireless high-temperature alarm system achieves a wide temperature sensing range (50–400 °C) and sensitivity response time (trigger time ~ 1.43 s) for firefighting clothing.

Keywords

Human muscle inspired Anisotropic thermoelectric aerogel Temperature sensing High-temperature warning Firefighting clothing
Yu, Zhicai, Yuhang Wan, Mi Zhou, Md Hasib Mia, Siqi Huo, Lele Huang, Jie Xu, Qing Jiang, Zhenrong Zheng, Xiaodong Hu, and Hualing He. 2025. “Muscle-Inspired Anisotropic Aramid Nanofibers Aerogel Exhibiting High-Efficiency Thermoelectric Conversion and Precise Temperature Monitoring for Firefighting Clothing”. Nano-Micro Letters 17 (April):214. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01728-x.
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