Skin-Inspired “Sweating Fabrics” with Directional Water Accumulation and Droplet Rolling Behavior for High-Performance Personal Moisture Management

Abstract

Janus fabrics with moisture management enable directional water transport from the inner hydrophobic layer to the outer hydrophilic region, contributing to personalized moisture comfort. However, when the human body sweats profusely in high-temperature/high-humidity environments or during intense physical activities, current Janus fabrics encounter a daunting challenge of being saturated by sweat, generating unpleasant stuffiness and tight adhesion to the skin. Herein, inspired by the sweat glands in human skin, we propose an innovative “sweating fabric” with a uniquely patterned structure that features physical and chemical asymmetry, towards directional sweat accumulation and droplet rolling capabilities for high-performance personal moisture management. Unlike existing Janus fabrics where sweat permeates, spreads, and evaporates, our “sweating fabric” facilitates directional sweat transport to the outer surface where the sweat reaggregates into liquid droplets that drip off rather than spread or evaporate. By creatively constructing patterned water transport channels with asymmetric pore structure and wettability, each water transport channel of the “sweating fabric” has an outstanding directional water transport rate of 12.2 mL cm⁻² min⁻¹ while rendering sweat droplets to slide easily [sliding angle of (45 ± 2)°], which enables sustainable and swift sweat transport, thus opening ample opportunities for advanced fiber materials for wound care, biofluid monitoring, and microfluid control.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

Directional water transport / Water accumulation / Droplet rolling / Asymmetric pore structure and wettability / Personal moisture management

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