Color-changing yarns indicated temperatures below 86 Fahrenheit (30 Celsius) and over 104 F (40 C), and researchers developed an AI-enabled jacket from an electronic textile to provide the wearer with the ideal amount of warmth. Source: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c19174 Original image
Electric blankets and heating pads are examples of electronic textiles that can assist relieve pain and keep the wearer warm. However, extended usage of these devices may result in burns or other heat-related ailments.
In order to regulate temperature and avoid overheating, a team of researchers has created and tested a “smart” jacket that incorporates artificial intelligence (AI), heat-generating and color-changing yarns, and environmental sensors. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces publishes their findings.
Certain electronic textiles, also known as e-textiles, feature sensors that can track the wearer’s blood pressure, heart rate, and activity. They can also pair with smartphone apps that regulate temperature. However, despite advancements in technology, these gadgets still have the potential to harm consumers. Due to their diminished heat sensitivity, older adults are more vulnerable to heat-related injuries, and residents of assisted living facilities and nursing homes are particularly at risk since healthcare professionals may not always be able to easily or often check their temperatures. In order to develop a fabric that warms the user without overheating and gives instant temperature readings for convenient monitoring, Jeanne Tan and her colleagues thought they might enhance e-textile safety by fusing AI-driven technologies with thermochromic yarn.
The researchers used their innovative e-textile, which has two types of thermochromic yarn and heat generating, silver-coated yarn, to construct an intelligent heating jacket. Compared to conventional carbon fibre, the silver-coated yarn provides greater flexibility and less mass when warming the clothing. 50 participants of various ages, genders, and body types were used to train the AI-based temperature management system included into the jacket. The participants were asked to identify their preferred heat settings in a variety of temperature, humidity, and wind speed conditions.
The color-changing yarns added a safety feature to the jacket, with one yarn transitioning from purple to pink to indicate a heating temperature above 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) to allow for easy temperature monitoring during the day. In dark environments, the other, polymeric optical fiber yarn gave off a blue, yellow or red glow to indicate temperatures of 86 F (30 C), 104 F (40 C) and 122 F (50 C), respectively.
In a demonstration, the jacket’s AI component projected a pleasant temperature and continuously heated the wearer despite changes in the surroundings, and the thermochromic and optical fibre yarns in the jacket precisely displayed the heating temperature. According to the researchers, their e-textile technology may find usage in spacesuits, heated vehicle seats, and furnishings in the future.