Flexible Silk–Inorganic Nanocomposites: From Transparent to Highly Reflective

Abstract

A novel type of all‐natural, biocompatible, and very robust nanoscale free‐standing biohybrids are reported. They are obtained by integrating a silk fibroin matrix with functional inorganic nanoplatelets using a spin‐assisted layer‐by‐layer assembly. The organized assembly of the silk fibroin with clay (montmorillonite) nanosheets results in highly transparent nanoscale films with significantly enhanced mechanical properties, including strength, toughness, and elastic modulus, as compared to those for the pristine silk nanomaterials. Moreover, replacing clay nanoplatelets with a highly reflective Langmuir monolayer of densely packed silver nanoplates causes a similar enhancement of the mechanical properties, but in contrast to the materials above, highly reflective, mirror‐like, nanoscale flexible films are created. This strategy offers a new perspective for the fabrication of robust all‐natural flexible nanocomposites with exceptional mechanical properties important for biomedical applications, such as reinforced tissue engineering. On the other hand, the ability to convert silk‐based nanoscale films into mirror‐like biocompatible flexible films can be intriguing for prospective photonics and optical exploitation of these nanobiohybrids.

Preparation and Photocatalytic Activity of TiO2-Wrapped Cotton Nanofiber Composite Catalysts

“…With the strong awareness of recycled, sustainable, and biodegradable polymeric materials, biopolymers are considered to be prime material for nanocomposites. Silk (Foo et al 2006;Kharlampieva et al 2010), cellulose (Eichhorn et al 2010;Klemm et al 2011;Bi et al 2013), chitin (Alonso and Belamie 2010;Ifuku et al 2010), collagen (Marandi et al 2013), starch (Matsui et al 2004), and alginates (Rhim et al 2006) have all been utilized to prepare organic/inorganic hybrid composites. Different methods have been utilized to fabricate the hybrid materials, which combined the biomass substances with inorganic materials.…”

Physical crosslinking modulates sustained drug release from recombinant silk-elastinlike protein polymer for ophthalmic applications

“…Vapor exposure was performed in a tightly sealed desicator. Following a protocol detailed elsewhere [26,27], three types of SELP-47K films, including non-treated, EtOH-treated, and MeOH-treated samples, were analyzed for optical transmittance. Briefly, a sample was taped to a sample holder with the sample facing the incident beam, and transmittance was measured using a Cary 5000 UV/VIS-NIR spectrometer (Varian).…”

Silk Fibroin for Flexible Electronic Devices

“…Carbon-nanosheet anodes derived from silk fi broin demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance with a high reversible lithium-storage capacity (1865 mA h g −1 ) due to the specifi c surface area and good electronic conductivity induced by the rich doping of nitrogen atoms. [ 111 ] More significantly, due to its high molecular weight and amphiphilic polymer structure, silk fi broin demonstrates unique self-assembly behavior, which can enable it to serve as a template, directing the growth of a variety of inorganic nanomaterials, such as metals, [114][115][116] metal oxides, [117][118][119][120][121] and metal carbonates. [122][123][124] In particular, olive-like Fe 3 O 4 /C hollow nanoparticles were synthesized for lithium-ion-battery anodes by using silk fi broin as the template and carbon precursor.…”