Colorless Silk/Copper Sulfide Hybrid Fiber and Fabric with Spontaneous Heating Property under Sunlight

With the increasing demand for comfort, thinness, and warmth of fabrics, various functional fibers have emerged. However, natural silkworm silk, as one of the most widely used natural fibers in textile, faces the issue that it cannot be modified during the spinning process like synthetic fibers. Herein, copper sulfide nanoparticles (CuS NPs) with a near-infrared (NIR) absorption property were first prepared by using regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) as the biological template. Then, trace CuS NPs prepared in RSF solution (no more than 100 ppm) were added into the RSF spinning dope to prepare colorless RSF/CuS hybrid fibers via wet-spinning process. The tensile test of the RSF/CuS hybrid fibers showed that the toughness was improved with the addition of CuS NPs, which completely met the requirements of textile development. The temperature of RSF/CuS hybrid fiber bundles could increase 18.5 °C within 3 min under 1064 nm laser irradiation with power density of 1.0 W/cm². Finally, these RSF/CuS hybrid fiber bundles were woven into silk fabric or embroidered on a cotton fabric. Under the simulated sunlight, the temperature of RSF/CuS fabric could increase to more than 40 °C from room temperature. Also, as per the infrared images, the pattern of embroidery displayed a significant difference in temperature increase as compared to cotton matrix. Based on these results, an almost colorless RSF/CuS hybrid fiber that can be mass produced by wet spinning may have great potential in the fabrication of dyeable, light, and comfortable silk functional fabric with spontaneous heating characteristics under sunlight.