Ag nanoparticles decorated SiOC ceramic nanofiber membranes: a flexible and compressive platform for both electromagnetic and bacterial suppression

Multi-functional materials of both electromagnetic wave and bacterial suppression capacity are in significant practical demand for the surfaces of modern bio-medical devices. Meanwhile, the complex surface geometries put more requirements on the flexibility and durability. Ceramic-based materials with both dielectric loss and biocompatibility serve as an excellent template to meet these commands, However, the inherent brittleness further limits their practical application. Herein, we developed a flexible Ag-decorated SiOC nanofiber membrane via pyrolysis-assisted electrospinning. The Ag@SiOC nanofiber membrane retains approximately 98% of its compressive stress after 100 fatigue cycles and exhibits less than 2% variation in electrical resistance over 500 consecutive bending cycles. The incorporation of Ag significantly enhances dielectric and conductive loss ability, enabling an ultra-broad effective absorption bandwidth of 8.3 GHz (9.7-18 GHz) and a remarkable minimal reflection loss of −66.9 dB. Furthermore, the Ag@SiOC membrane demonstrates potent and stable antibacterial activity against both E. coli and S. aureus , maintaining clear inhibition zones over 12 h. This work presents a lightweight, flexible, and robust multifunctional composite, demonstrating significant potential as a conformal electromagnetic wave and bacterial protective material for cutting-edge technological and biomedical environments.