Carbonization of a stable β-sheet-rich silk protein into a pseudographitic pyroprotein.

ABSTRACT: Silk proteins are of great interest to the scientific community owing to their unique mechanical properties and interesting biological functionality. In addition, the silk proteins are not burned out following heating, rather they are transformed into a carbonaceous solid, pyroprotein; several studies have identified potential carbon precursors for state-of-the-art technologies. However, no mechanism for the carbonization of proteins has yet been reported. Here we examine the structural and chemical changes of silk proteins systematically at temperatures above the onset of thermal degradation. We find that the β-sheet structure is transformed into an sp(2)-hybridized carbon hexagonal structure by simple heating to 350 °C. The pseudographitic crystalline layers grew to form highly ordered g

SUBMITTER: Cho SY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4455128 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature