Improving electricity from silk cocoons through feeding silkworms with silver nanoparticles

Synthesis and Processing of Nanomaterials Mediated by Living Organisms

“…[58,59] Fors ilkworms fed with 60-80 nm Ag NPs Nambajjwe et al observed an 83 %s urvival rate at 1wt% feeding ratio,but afeeding ratio of 0.4-0.5 wt %increased this to a92%. [59] In similar studies,the silkworms survival slightly decreased with increasing NP size (20-100 nm diameter), but was always above 85 %f or a1wt %f eeding ratio. [58] Similar conclusions were drawn from Cu, Fe,a nd TiO 2 NPs (30-50 nm diameter), which showed no issues at a % 0.3 wt % feeding ratio.…”

Synthesis and Processing of Nanomaterials Mediated by Living Organisms

“…Regarding ZMNPs, the most investigated are Ag NPs, [56–59] but there are also reports on feeding with Cu [56, 60] and Fe [60] NPs. While the mechanical improvements of the silk in these cases do not match those from carbon‐based NMs (Figure 3 c,d), the actual benefits lie in the conferral of new properties such as a potent antibacterial effect [57, 58] or the electricity harvesting from silk cocoons [59] . A similar trend is observed for feeding with metal oxide NPs, which in this case are mostly based on TiO 2 [44, 60, 61] but there are also specific examples with F 3 O 4 , [49] MoS 2 [61] or MoO 2 [62, 63] NPs.…”

“…[46,48,55] Another recurrent family of NMs fed to silkworms are metal and metal oxide NPs.R egarding ZMNPs,t he most investigated are Ag NPs, [56][57][58][59] but there are also reports on feeding with Cu [56,60] and Fe [60] NPs.While the mechanical improvements of the silk in these cases do not match those from carbon-based NMs (Figure 3c,d), the actual benefits lie in the conferral of new properties such as ap otent antibacterial effect [57,58] or the electricity harvesting from silk cocoons. [59] As imilar trend is observed for feeding with metal oxide NPs,which in this case are mostly based on TiO 2 [44,60,61] but there are also specific examples with F 3 O 4 , [49] MoS 2 [61] or MoO 2 [62,63] NPs.F or instance,t he excellent UV-absorbing ability of TiO 2 led to UV-resistant silks, [44] the magnetic properties of F 3 O 4 provided intrinsically magnetic silk, [49] and MoO 2 NPs led to an enhancement of specific capacitance in carbonized silk. [62,63] All the aforementioned breakthroughs are possible because NMs are actually incorporated into the silk by the action of silkworms.T his has been corroborated by some authors using specific characterization techniques.F or instance,CNTs and graphene have been detected within the silk by Raman spectroscopy, [51,52] and metal NPs by ICP-MS and advanced electron microscopy techniques.…”

The State of the Art of Energy Harvesting and Storage in Silk Fibroin-Based Wearable and Implantable Devices

“…More simplified assemblies based on silk cocoons explored the ability of these materials to promote the current flow of ionic charge carriers facilitated by the incorporation of adsorbed species into silk cocoon membranes disposed of between distinct electrodes [58,59], such as copper (anode) and aluminum (cathode). The incorporation of these additives can be established by direct adsorption of nanoparticles by silk fibers or by the direct administration of silver nanoparticles into the diet of the silk larvae [59].…”