Versatile Room-Temperature Phosphorescence Silk Fibroin Platforms for Sustainable and Biocompatible Multifunctional Interfaces.

Abstract

The development of sustainably sourced, biocompatible room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials with rich formats, multimodal tunability, and multifunctional capabilities presents a transformative opportunity for sustainable technologies and biomedical interfaces, yet it remains a significant challenge. Here, RTP silk fibroin systems that feature improved processability, responsiveness, and functionality by multivalently anchoring phosphors to a versatile protein matrix are reported. The RTP silk fibroin can be processed into various fully biodegradable platforms, exhibiting strong RTP emission with a lifetime of up to 233 ms driven by multiple robust phosphor-fibroin interactions. The resulting platforms exhibit multi-responsiveness to UV light, vapor, and temperature, along with diversified functionalities that include recyclability, weldability, morphability, and adhesion. Moreover, their adaptability with diverse micro/nano-processing techniques enables complex RTP patterning and multidimensional information integration. Finally, it is demonstrated that these convergent advantages endow the platforms with multifunctionality and multi-interface compatibility, enabling applications such as smart labels for electronic devices, conformal networks for pharmaceuticals, and scalable textiles for face masks.