Fig. 1
From: Ultra strong pyroprotein fibres with long-range ordering
Schematic of long-range-ordered pyroprotein-based fibre. a The structure of silk composed of highly aligned β-sheet crystals organised by the self-assembly of GX repeat units through a number of inter-/intra-chain hydrogen bonds and surrounding amorphous domains consisting of non-repetitive peptide chains. b At temperatures in excess of 800 °C, disordered poly-hexagonal carbon units are formed by the pyrolysis of poly-peptide molecules. c Following heating to 2800 °C, the disordered poly-hexagonal carbon units developed into pseudo-graphitic domains. d By axial stretching, pyroprotein-based fibres with well-arranged poly-hexagonal carbon units along the fibre axis are formed by heating to 800 °C. e Long-range-ordered graphitic structures evolve following heating to 2800 °C
