Hierarchically carbonized silk/ceramic composites for electro-thermal conversion

Two independent heating steps are currently involved for fabricating carbon fiber/ceramic composites, which include carbonization of fibers and ceramization of ceramic precursors with carbonized fibers together. In this work, silk fabric and silkworm cocoon were used as carbonaceous precursors for fabricating carbonized fiber/ceramic composites through one-step heating processing. This one-step manufacturing method achieved both the carbonization of silk fabric/silkworm cocoon and the formation of mullite simultaneously under nitrogen environment. The as-prepared composite based on three-layer silk fabric reached over 100 °C after 30 s when a voltage of 10 V was applied, and achieved a stabilized temperature of 239 °C after 540 s. The obtained composites also showed stable cyclic heating property, homogeneous   heat distribution and electromagnetic shielding properties. These results implicate the great potential for the developed silk-ceramic composites and inspire the further design of silk-based materials for electro-thermal conversion.