Review: incorporation of organic PCMs into textiles

Phase change materials (PCMs) were characterized to adsorb/release the thermal energy during the phase transition process over a certain temperature range. The PCMs had been incorporated into textiles to enhance the thermal property and the products are labeled as PCM textiles. The thermal behavior of the PCM textiles (the PCM fibers, the PCM yarns, and the PCM fabrics) was investigated for decades. The application of the PCM textiles was also extended to various fields. Based on the numerous research work, the publications related to the PCM textiles were already summarized. However, it was found that some reviews tended to describe the application of the microencapsulation PCMs, and some reviews focused on the fabrication of the PCM ultrafine fibers via electrospinning. In addition, there are some novel technologies to fabricate the PCMs, the novel methods to evaluate the PCM textiles, and the novel applications of the PCM textiles in recent years. In this review, the recent research work related to PCM textiles was summarized, which was aimed to deepen the understanding of the PCM textiles. Graphical abstract