Fig. 1 Heat dissipation of human body and main PTM methods. a Heat transfer mechanism of human body. b Categories of PTM strategies for thermal comfort [13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2013, Elsevier. Copyright 2021, American Association for the Advancement of Science. Copyright 2019, Elsevier. Copyright 2013, Elsevier. Copyright 2008, Springer Nature. Copyright 2015, Elsevier. Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society

Fig. 2 Schematic of the radiation heat transfer model for PRTM. a The skin and the cloth are considered as two separate control volumes. b The skin and the cloth are considered as a single unified control volume

Fig. 3 Fundamentals of radiative emissivity from a surface. a Spectral distribution of blackbody and real surface emission. b Directional distribution of blackbody and real surface emission [65]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2019, AIP Publishing. c A surface of doped polyethylene foil that contains SiC and SiO₂ nanoparticles on the aluminum. d Reflectance as a function of wavelength and angle of incidence for doped polyethylene foil on aluminum [66]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2010, American Chemical Society

Fig. 4 Illustration of the heat dissipation and thermal radiation spectrum of the human body. a Human body thermal radiation spectrum (solid dark line) calculated using the blackbody radiation law at a skin temperature of 34 °C. The AM 1.5G solar irradiance spectrum is shown as blue shading and the AM 1.5 atmospheric transmission spectrum in the IR region (4.2-26 μm) is shown as yellow shading [69]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2020, Elsevier. b The percentage of radiation, vaporization, and convection of human body heat losses as a function of environment temperature [12,24]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2021, Elsevier

Fig. 5 Schematic of the regulation principle of personal radiative thermal management

Fig. 6 Evaluation methods for radiative heat transfer. a Schematic of the thermal performance measurement set-up of a simulated skin [51]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2018, Wiley-VCH Gmb. b Photograph of the outdoor experimental set-up enclosed by a thermal insulation foam and covered with a layer of aluminum foil and low-density polyethylene [75]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2022, Elsevier. c Digital pictures and illustration of the self-made, light-transmitting device [74]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2019 Wiley-VCH Gmb. d Thermal imaging and photographs (insets) of the human body wearing garments made from radiative heating textile and traditional textile for comparison [76]

Fig. 7 Representative IR transparent materials related to PE. a Schematics of comparison between nanoPE, normal PE, and cotton [71]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science. b A schematic diagram of the manufacturing process for the nanoPE microfiber. c A photograph of a large woven nanoPE fabric. Scale bar, 0.35 m. d Infrared images of the nanoPE fabric, nanoPE film, Tyvek, and cotton on simulated human skin [80]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2018, Springer Nature. e Photographs of colored knitted textiles and infrared images of bare skin and human skin covered with cotton for blue PB-PE, red Fe₂O₃-PE, and yellow Si-PE [81]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2019, Elsevier. f Radiative cooling ability of composite textile composed of a multilayered periodic array of parallel cotton and nylon fibers [83]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2016, American Chemical Society. g IR is transparent through bilayer anisotropic wettability nanoPE (BAW-nanoPE) without perspiration, and sweat can be drained in perspiration. h Water transportation mechanism scheme of fabricated BAW-nanoPE [85]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2012, American Chemical Society

Fig. 8 Representative solar reflective materials. a Schematic representation and SEM micrographs of the proposed mechanism of NIR reflection of P25 TiO₂-cotton, TiO₂-cotton, SiO₂-cotton, and Janus-cotton [99]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2017, Elsevier. b SEM image of the top surface for Al₂O₃-cellulose acetate coated on Mitsubishi cellulose acetate textile showing the Al₂O₃ NPs embedded in cellulose acetate of modified textile [69]. c Infrared images of a Mitsubishi T-shirt (top), and a modified Mitsubishi T-shirt (bottom) on a clear summer day in Shanghai, China [69]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2020, Elsevier. d Schematic illustration of the bioinspired flexible hybrid films. Ceramic particles are embedded in the PDMS matrix filled by compact arrays of micropyramids [100]. e Schematic of the ZnO nanoparticle-embedded nanoporous PE textile, designed for radiative outdoor cooling by reflecting sunlight and transmitting human body thermal radiation [51]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2018, Wiley-VCH Gmb

Fig. 9 Designs of metafabric material, nature-inspired multilayer nanophotonic structures, and bionic structures for radiative cooling. a Schematic of a metafabric for daytime radiative cooling. The blue, green, and red dashed boxes highlight the three-level hierarchical structure responding to the UV, VIS-NIR, and MIR bands, respectively. The insets show the calculated scattering fields of 300- and 550-nm light by a 500-nm PTFE particle and a 400-nm TiO₂ particle, respectively. Scale bar, 400 nm. E, the electric field of the incident light; k, the wave vector of the incident light. b Calculated scattering and absorption efficiencies for particles with different sizes encapsulated in the metafabric. PTFE particles, TiO₂ particles, and PLA fibers demonstrate strong scattering and absorption of UV light, VIS-NIR light, and MIR light, respectively. c Schematic of the metafabric cooling tests on the human body. d Temperature tracking for skin under different fabrics in direct sunlight in Guangzhou, China. e Infrared images of the volunteer under direct sunlight in Sipsongpanna, China [18]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2021, American Association for the Advancement of Science f Microstructure of the PA/PVDF/PE composite textile [107]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2020, Elsevier. g A schematic diagram of thermoregulatory effect discovered in the Saharan silver ant, Cataglyphis bombycina. h The pattern of designed PDMS-SiO₂-Ag with a triangular prism array of a size parameter at 8 μm inspired by the Saharan silver ant [111]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2020, Elsevier

Fig. 10 Metal-based IR reflective materials. a Schematic of nanowire cloth with thermal radiation insulation and active heating, and the corresponding thermal images and regular photographs of normal cloth, CNT-cloth, and AgNW-cloth [114]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2015, American Chemical Society. b SEM images and thermal images of the CTIM and Ag NPs/CTIM [116]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2019, Elsevier. c Schematic of multifunctional cotton-based cloth modified with a superhydrophobic silica nanoparticle/PDMS layer on one side and coated with a nanoporous cellulose acetate layer followed by depositing a thin silver film on the side. Also, it showed the SEM image and infrared photograph [112]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society. d Schematic of WKF/Cu-Ni/rGO/PDMS composite [117]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society

Fig. 11 a Schematics depicting the heat dissipation and vapor transmission of the human body covered with traditional textile and nanophotonic structure heating textile composed of an IR transparent layer and an IR reflective layer with embedded nanopores in both layers to simultaneously achieve minimal IR emissivity and good breathability. b Photographs and SEM images of the Ag side and PE side of nano-Ag/PE. Scale bar, 1 µm. c Thermal imaging and photographs (insets) of the human body wearing garments made from radiative heating cotton/Ag/PE textile and traditional textile, respectively [76]. d Schematic of the heat dissipation of the human body with multi-material aerogel fabric. e Digital photograph of commercial cotton mask integrated with a piece of multi-material aerogel fabric by weaving (orange dashed box). The colored points are the positions of the thermocouples. f Real-time temperature difference ∆T between multi-material aerogel fabric, mask, and bare skin [120]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2022, Springer Nature

Fig. 12 UV-VIS-NIR radiative heating materials. a Laminated structure of the biomimetic membrane. b Comparison of the temperature for the laminated membrane, cotton cloth, bare skin, polyester cloth, CNT/cellulose membrane, cellulose/Ag membrane, and reversed laminated membrane (condition: the thickness of all samples is about 0.5 mm). c Thermal images of the biomimetic membrane supplied with a voltage of 3.7 V [127]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society. d Schematic illustration of novel functionalities of cotton fabric after coating with NM/PDMS. e Surface temperature change of cotton samples over 3 cycles of NIR irradiations [128]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2022, Elsevier. f Schematics depicting the heating mechanism of the colored textile with simultaneous solar and passive heating abilities. q_net denotes the net heat flux from the textile into the skin. g Optical and thermal images of a toy sheep partly wearing a colored textile with simultaneous solar and passive heating abilities [129]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2019, Elsevier

Fig. 13 Schematic of working principle, composition structure, and thermal regulation performance of dual-mode textile. a Comparison of traditional textiles and dual-mode textiles. b Layered structure of the dual-mode textile. c Real-time thermal measurements of dual-mode and traditional textiles under varying ambient temperatures [137]. d Working principle and the structural component of the Janus textile designed by Luo et al. [139]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2021, American Chemical Society. e Schematic illustration of the working principle of the Janus film fabricated by Dai et al. [140]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2022, American Chemical Society

Fig. 14 Bioinspired design of thermoregulatory composite materials. a-c Schematic of radiation regulation for a space blanket on a human arm, the squid skin, and the composite material on a human arm in a wearable (sleeve) configuration. d Infrared camera images of a forearm covered with a space blanket-based sleeve and a composite-based sleeve under strain varying from 0 to 50% [150]. e Penguins-inspired dual-temperature-regulation materials. f Schemes of light absorption, reflection, IR transparency, and air convection of PAN, PAN/BT, and PAN/BC nanofibers. g-h Temperature variation of simulative skin when PAN/CB and PAN/BT nanofibers were used as heating or cooling materials with content variation of CB/NPs and BT/NPs under the radiation of a solar simulator for 30 min [151]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2019, Elsevier

Fig. 15 Dynamic responsive materials for dual-mode thermal regulation. a Illustration of the working principle and fabrication process of thermal insulation and thermoregulation textiles [20]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society. b Structural illustration of a thermally actuating dual-mode thermal management device. The nano-Cr black Al plate serves as the solar collector for solar heating. The functional layer for radiative cooling in the RC tape is composed of a DOP-modified PMP matrix and TiO₂ NPs fillers. A narrow strip of VHB tape, used as the sole joint part between solar heating and radiative cooling layers, preserves the maximum effective area for dual-mode thermal management. The inset of SEM image shows that nano-chromium oxide powders are uniformly distributed on the aluminum plate. c, d Optical images of the dual-mode device in heating and cooling modes [155]. e Design principles of the IR gating textiles. Each yarn knitted into the textile is composed of multiple metafibers that contain IR-active nanostructures. f Confocal fluorescent microscopy images showing the knitted fabric in the closed state (left) (low humidity) and the open state (E) (high humidity). To illustrate the side-by-side bimorph structure of the fibers, the hydrophilic cellulose component was dyed with an aqueous solution of rhodamine B (red), and the hydrophobic triacetate component was dyed using coumarin 6 (green) from a mixed organic solvent. g The IR transmittance change over the atmospheric transmission window (8-14 μm) of IR gating metatextile (black line) with different relative humidity profiles [72]. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2019, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Fig. 16 Schematic summary of conclusions and outlook for PRTM