Conductive Silk‐Based Composites Using Biobased Carbon Materials

Abstract

There is great interest in developing conductive biomaterials for the manufacturing of sensors or flexible electronics with applications in healthcare, tracking human motion, or in situ strain measurements. These biomaterials aim to overcome the mismatch in mechanical properties at the interface between typical rigid semiconductor sensors and soft, often uneven biological surfaces or tissues for in vivo and ex vivo applications. Here, the use of biobased carbons to fabricate conductive, highly stretchable, flexible, and biocompatible silk‐based composite biomaterials is demonstrated. Biobased carbons are synthesized via hydrothermal processing, an aqueous thermochemical method that converts biomass into a carbonaceous material that can be applied upon activation as conductive filler in composite biomaterials. Experimental synthesis and full‐atomistic molecular dynamics modeling are combined to synthesize and characterize these conductive composite biomaterials, made entirely from renewable sources and with promising applications in fields like biomedicine, energy, and electronics.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Sep 18, 2019
Source ID
10.1002/adma.201904720

Entities

People

  • David L. Kaplan
  • Diego López Barreiro
  • Francisco J Martín-Martínez
  • Jingjie Yeo
  • Markus J. Buehler
  • Morgan J Hawker
  • Sabrina Shen
  • Zaira Martín-Moldes

Organizations

  • Agency for Science, Technology and Research
  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Cornell University
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • Tufts University

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Reinforced Composite Materials
  • Thermal Physics or Thermal Science.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics