Effect of Draw Ratio on the Microstructure of Silk Fibroin/Graphene Oxide Hybrid Fibers

Abstract

In order to fabricate high performance artificial silk, hybrid fibers were dry spun from regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) aqueous solution mixed with graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. The influence of draw ratio on the microstructure and mechanical properties of RSF/GO hybrid fibers was studied through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), synchrotron radiation wide-angle X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and mechanical testing. The results showed that with increasing draw ratio, both amorphous phase and mesophase of the dry-spun artificial fiber gradually converted to crystals. The orientation of crystals and mesophase changed slightly at low draw ratio, but increased significantly at draw ratios of 3 and 4X. The β-sheet content of silk fibroin and the disorder degree of GO sheets in the fibers also increased with the increase of draw ratio. The initial modulus, breaking strength and breaking energy of the hybrid fibers achieved great improvement at a draw ratio of 4X. The structure evolution of the RSF/GO hybrid fibers may benefit the understanding of the structure-property relationship of other composite fibers.