Production of silk sericin/silk fibroin blend nanofibers

Xianhua Zhang,Masuhiro Tsukada,Guangyu Zhang,Hideaki Morikawa,Kazuki Aojima,Mikihiko Miura

doi:10.1186/1556-276x-6-510

Xianhua Zhang, Masuhiro Tsukada + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1556-276x-6-510

Copy DOI

Journal: Nanoscale Research Letters	Publication Date: Aug 25, 2011
Citations: 62	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Shinshu University

Abstract

Silk sericin (SS)/silk fibroin (SF) blend nanofibers have been produced by electrospinning in a binary SS/SF trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) solution system, which was prepared by mixing 20 wt.% SS TFA solution and 10 wt.% SF TFA solution to give different compositions. The diameters of the SS/SF nanofibers ranged from 33 to 837 nm, and they showed a round cross section. The surface of the SS/SF nanofibers was smooth, and the fibers possessed a bead-free structure. The average diameters of the SS/SF (75/25, 50/50, and 25/75) blend nanofibers were much thicker than that of SS and SF nanofibers. The SS/SF (100/0, 75/25, and 50/50) blend nanofibers were easily dissolved in water, while the SS/SF (25/75 and 0/100) blend nanofibers could not be completely dissolved in water. The SS/SF blend nanofibers could not be completely dissolved in methanol. The SS/SF blend nanofibers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and differential thermal analysis. FTIR showed that the SS/SF blend nanofibers possessed a random coil conformation and ß-sheet structure.

Highlights

Electrospinning is an interesting and effective process for producing nanoscale fibers with diameters in the nanometer to micrometer range
We succeeded in producing Silk sericin (SS)/silk fibroin (SF) blend nanofibers by electrospinning with a SS/SF trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) blend solution
The mean diameter of these blended nanofibers decreased, and the number of beads slightly increased with increasing dissolving time of the SS/SF blend solution prior to electrospinning

Summary

Introduction

Electrospinning is an interesting and effective process for producing nanoscale fibers with diameters in the nanometer to micrometer range. The average diameters of the SS/SF blend nanofibers in Figure 1a,b,c,d,e were 156, 242, 221, 172, and 160 nm, respectively. The average diameters of SS/SF blend nanofibers (Figure 1b,c,d) decreased with an increasing amount of the SF component. SS nanofibers (Figure 2a) obtained by electrospinning with SS solution, having a dissolving time of 10 days, demonstrated bead-free and excellent nanofibers.

Results

Conclusion