Directly obtaining high strength silk fiber from silkworm by feeding carbon nanotubes

Obtaining high mechanical performance silk fibers by feeding purified carbon nanotube/lignosulfonate composite to silkworms

“…Lignosulfonate (LGS) is used as the surfactant to coat the CNTs because it is a natural product with stable hydrophilic functionality and biocompatibility. 17 The relationship between silk protein sequences and mechanical properties has been reported before. [34][35][36] The CNT content in silk bers can lead to protein reorganization and subsequently afford tunable mechanical properties.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] In particular, silk bers produced by the mulberry silkworm have been widely used in tissue engineering, 5,6 controlled drug release, 7,8 wound dressing, 9 silk hydrogels, 10 bio-photonics, 11,12 wearable human-motion sensors and electrochemical diagnosis, 13,14 due to their lustrous texture, biodegradability, outstanding toughness, and excellent biocompatibility. Various methods have been developed to improve the mechanical, electrical, and optical properties of silk bers, such as lling them with carbon-based nanomaterials [15][16][17] functionalization with uorescent dyes 18,19 and transgenic engineering. 20,21 For instance, Tansil et al 18,19 used uorescent dyes as nanollers to obtain colorful functionalized silk bers.…”

“…In addition, inherently reinforced bers have been obtained through directly feeding articial additives to silkworms or spiders. [15][16][17] Single-or multiple-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs/ MWCNTs) have been widely used in transistors, 23,24 batteries, 25 and reinforcing agents, 26,27 due to their excellent electrical, mechanical and catalytic properties. By lling CNTs into silk bers, the nanotubes with structural translational symmetry and structural exibility endow the bers with improved electrical and mechanical properties.…”

Bionicomposites

“…Feeding spiders or B. mori silkworms with diets containing carbon nanomaterials could result in intrinsically reinforced silkworm silk fibers. 6,7 Fermentation of bacteria in the presence of nanomaterials could also create a biogenic composite.…”

“…Feeding B. mori silkworms with diets containing CNTs led to intrinsically reinforced silkworm silk fibers (Figure 2). 6 The silk fibers produced by such natural process showed superior tensile strength and toughness thanks to a spontaneous silk-spinning process that converts helical and random coils to β-sheet structures, with a strength comparable to that of steel (1GPa) but 5 times smaller than the best bionic spider silk. Moreover, given concerns about the toxicity of CNTs in whole organisms, Weisman et al 29 investigated the effects on overall viability and growth of feeding CNTs to Drosophila larvae.…”