Photothermal phase change materials for wearable thermal management and intelligent healthcare

Wenqing He

2,#

Lingqi Huang

1,#

Qiongfang Nie

Fei Zhang

Zhixin Zhang

Wei Feng

1,*

Affiliation +

*Correspondence to: Wei Feng, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. E-mail: weifeng@tju.edu.cn

Smart Mater Devices. 2026;2:202629. 10.70401/smd.2026.0042

Received: June 10, 2026Accepted: August 11, 2026Published: August 11, 2026

This manuscript is made available in its unedited form to allow early access to the reported findings. Further editing will be completed before final publication. As such, the content may include errors, and standard legal disclaimers are applicable.

Abstract

Photothermal phase change materials (PCMs) are emerging as one kind of multifunctional wearable energy materials that integrate latent-heat storage with solar-to-thermal conversion, electrothermal heating, radiative regulation, and intelligent sensing. Unlike conventional PCMs, wearable photothermal PCMs should simultaneously satisfy thermal performance, flexibility, breathability, leakage resistance, cycling stability, and skin compatibility. We summarize recent progress in photothermal PCMs for wearable thermal management and intelligent healthcare, focusing on material systems, energy-conversion mechanisms, and application scenarios. Shape-stabilized solid-liquid composites, intrinsically flexible solid-solid/polymeric PCMs, photothermal-filler-enhanced composites, and PC-Azo molecular solar thermal systems are discussed. Their applications in personal thermal management, solar-thermal/optically switched heat release, wearable thermotherapy, intelligent healthcare, wearable electronics, and self-powered systems are highlighted. Finally, key challenges and future opportunities are proposed, including human-centered evaluation standards, multimodal thermal regulation, epidermal phase-change hydrogels, phase-change solar thermal textiles, and AI-guided material design.

Keywords

Phase change material, photothermal, wearable, thermal management, intelligent healthcare

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He W, Huang L, Nie Q, Zhang F, Zhang Z, Feng W. Photothermal phase change materials for wearable thermal management and intelligent healthcare. Smart Mater Devices. 2026;2:202629. https://doi.org/10.70401/smd.2026.0042

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Smart Materials and Devices

Photothermal phase change materials for wearable thermal management and intelligent healthcare

Wenqing He

Lingqi Huang

Qiongfang Nie

Fei Zhang

Zhixin Zhang

Wei Feng

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Smart Materials and Devices

Photothermal phase change materials for wearable thermal management and intelligent healthcare

Wenqing He

Lingqi Huang

Qiongfang Nie

Fei Zhang

Zhixin Zhang

Wei Feng

Abstract

Keywords

References

Copyright

Publisher’s Note

Share And Cite

Science Exploration Style

Download

Export Citation

Article Metrics

Article Updates

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Smart Materials and Devices

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