Application of Bombyx mori Silk Fibroin Films for Liquid-Crystal Devices

Abstract

Biocompatible and biodegradable silk fibroin films show promise as an eco-friendly biomaterial with excellent mechanical, thermal, and optical transparency properties. In contrast, polyimide (PI) films adopted in the liquid-crystal display (LCD) industry for aligning LC molecules are synthesized using toxic chemicals, which are nonrecyclable and nonbiodegradable. In this work, Bombyx mori silk fibroin films are fabricated from the aqueous solution and applied as alignment films for LCDs. The thermal properties of the prepared regenerated silk fibroin materials under different heat treatment temperatures are investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The crystallinity of different heat-treated silk fibroin materials is determined by infrared spectroscopy. The silk fibroin film treated at a higher temperature exhibits better thermal stability due to the higher crystallinity of the β-form structure. The LCDs using silk fibroin alignment films show a low pretilt angle of 0.5° and an anchoring energy of ∼10–3 J/m2 similar to those of the conventional polyimide films.

Resistance to Degradation of Silk Fibroin Hydrogels Exposed to Neuroinflammatory Environments

“…SF has innate antioxidant [15,16], anti-microbial [17], and anti-inflammatory properties [18,19] with applicability in various healthcare fields such as cancer [20] or cardiovascular diseases [21]. This material can be fabricated in diverse formats, including hydrogels [22], fibers [23], films [24], and sponges [25,26], which emphasizes the versatility of SF's applications. The ability of SF hydrogels to encapsulate cells, trackers, and therapeutic molecules, alongside the appropriate mechanical properties compatible with brain tissue [27], gives this particular format a wide range of possibilities for diagnosis and therapy in different pathologies, including CNS diseases [1,[28][29][30].…”

Silk Fibroin Nanocomposites with Indium Tin Oxide toward Sustainable Capacitive Touch Sensing Applications

“…28,29 Those ITO/SF composites have been combined with additional layers of different nature to achieve multilayered materials 30 for transistor 31,32 and memristor 33,34 applications. ITO/SF composites coated over glass slides have been also used for liquid-crystal device development 35 and biostimulation. 36,37 sandwich-like ITO/SF composites can be supported by an additional poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) layer.…”

“…SF/ITO composites have been generally developed by coating SF onto ITO-deposited glass, giving as a result a transparent and rigid component. , ITO behaves as a low sheet resistance surface for electron transport, and SF behaves as a thin-film dielectric, allowing the property modulation through layer thickness switching or protein configuration. , The most used processing technique for SF coating has been spin coating. , Those ITO/SF composites have been combined with additional layers of different nature to achieve multilayered materials for transistor , and memristor , applications. ITO/SF composites coated over glass slides have been also used for liquid-crystal device development and biostimulation. , sandwich-like ITO/SF composites can be supported by an additional poly­(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) layer . This has allowed the development of SF-based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), , which, based on the dielectric properties of SF, are capable of generating energy from mechanical stimuli.…”

Study on a Natural Silk Cocoon Membrane-Based Versatile and Stable Immunosensing Platform via Directional Immunoaffinity Recognition

“…Recently, silk from Bombyx mori, which is mainly composed of unique protein biopolymers fibroin and sericin with bioactivity, has been widely used as a biofunctional substrate material due to its good mechanical stability and elasticity, good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and immunogenicity. − Silk can be regenerated and used to fabricate different substrates for various applications of biosensors. − Furthermore, silk possesses the ability to stabilize biomolecules. Some researchers consider that the mechanism of stabilization is the higher crystallinity of the β-form structure in the regenerated silk fibroin films, which enhance the stabilization during storage, and others think that silk protein could form a protective barrier by increasing protein–protein interactions and reducing compound or protein mobility to promote protein stability. − The stabilization effects of silk have been demonstrated in blood components, enzymes, virus, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), vaccines, antibiotics, DNA, RNA, etc. − …”