Abstract
Silkworm silk is mainly known as a luxurious textile. Spider silk is an alternative to silkworm silk fibers and has much more outstanding properties. Silk diversity ensures variation in its application in nature and industry. This review aims to provide a critical summary of up-to-date fabrication methods of spider silk-based organic-inorganic hybrid materials. This paper focuses on the relationship between the molecular structure of spider silk and its mechanical properties. Such knowledge is essential for understanding the innate properties of spider silk as it provides insight into the sophisticated assembly processes of silk proteins into the distinct polymers as a basis for novel products. In this context, we describe the development of spider silk-based hybrids using both natural and bioengineered spider silk proteins blended with inorganic nanoparticles. The following topics are also covered: the diversity of spider silk, its composition and architecture, the differences between silkworm silk and spider silk, and the biosynthesis of natural silk. Referencing biochemical data and processes, this paper outlines the existing challenges and future outcomes.
Highlights
Nature is rife with nanocomposites, which exhibit high toughness and are found in various tissues— from abalone shells (Smith et al, 1999) to human bones (Ji and Gao, 2004)
Spider silk provides a good basis for the formation of hybrid functional materials with many uses— an option already being explored
It is clear that this field is only at its first stages of development based on the presented approaches for the synthesis of spider silkbased organic-inorganic hybrid materials
Summary
Nature is rife with nanocomposites, which exhibit high toughness and are found in various tissues— from abalone shells (Smith et al, 1999) to human bones (Ji and Gao, 2004). Differences between structure and material performance regarding silkworm and spider silk are explored, to provide a deeper understanding of silk backbone performance in the fabrication of silk-based functional materials Their organization at the molecular level, interactions to form secondary structures, and various mechanical properties are highlighted. The majority of the studies on spider silk focuses only on spider dragline silk, biochemical analyses demonstrate that the outstanding mechanical properties of spider silk originate from their unique primary amino acid sequences, produced by expressing specific spider silk genes in certain silk-producing glands (Vierra et al, 2011) These amino acid sequences are arranged in domains, in which more crystalline and less crystalline polypeptides are mixed in different proportions for various silk types (Gosline et al, 1999; Römer and Scheibel, 2008). These data enable a more holistic discussion of its structure–property– function relationships, providing more in-depth knowledge to advance the material design
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