Professor Kim Byung-hoon of the Department of Physics, Professor of Jungwoo Kim, Professor Choi Soo-bong, Dr. Jang Hyun-seok, Master of Science Park Ik-pyeong, and Dr. Lee Hee-woo

Researchers from the Department of Physics at Incheon National University opened the possibility of simply producing excellent electronic fibers with high applicability through collaboration. Kim Byung-hoon (corresponding author), Jungwoo Kim (corresponding author), Professor Choi Soo-bong, Ph.D. student Jang Hyun-seok (first author), master's student Park Ik-pyeong (first author), and master's student Lee Hee-woo developed electronic fibers with great electrical conductivity and flexibility using commercial silk and polydopamine.

The research team added commercial silk to a commercial dopamine solution, polydopamine dopamine, and confirmed that the silk strands that make up silk are split into thin layers and can be converted into aligned carbon structures and used as electronic fibers. The developed electronic fiber has excellent electrical characteristics due to its well-aligned carbon structure, but its flexibility has the same characteristics as that of ordinary silk even though it is heat-treated at a temperature over 1300°C.  

In addition, the research team showed the possibility of applying polydopamine to various fields such as fibers with magnet properties, semiconductor fibers, and flexible thermoelectric devices because it can be bonded to almost any material.

The study, conducted with Professor Kim Yeon-ho of Applied Chemistry at Konkuk University, was published on Feb. 21 in Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials (IF: 20.1), the most prestigious paper in the field of composite materials.