# Silk-Derived Peptide Modification to Polymers Improves the Miscibility of Composite Materials with Silk Fibroin

## TL;DR

Modifying polymers with silk-derived peptides improves the compatibility and strength of silk fibroin composite materials.

## Contribution

A novel method using silk fibroin motif peptides to enhance polymer composite miscibility and physical properties.

## Key findings

- Peptide modification improves thermal properties and molecular mobility in composites.
- Physical properties of composites correlate with molecular structure after modification.
- The method offers an innovative solution to the miscibility issue in SF/polymer composites.

## Abstract

Silk fibroin (SF)/polymer composite materials typically
exhibit
degraded material strength because of their low miscibility. Therefore,
we hypothesize that compatibility issues can be solved by modifying
SF primary structure motif peptides into polymers. Physical property
and structural analyses are performed on fabricated SF/polymer composites.
These results suggest that miscibility is improved by modifying the
peptide in terms of its thermal properties and molecular mobility.
Further, physical properties are improved by peptide modification
and are correlated with molecular structure. These findings indicate
that SF primary structure motif peptide modification is an innovative
technology that can solve the miscibility issue of SF/polymer composite
materials.