Preparation of Highly Crystalline Silk Nanofibrils and Their Use in the Improvement of the Mechanical Properties of Silk Films

Surface-engineered natural fibers: Emerging alternative substrates for chemical sensor applications: A review

Natural fiber has become one of the most widely used alternative materials for chemical sensor fabrication due to its advantages, such as biocompatibility, flexibility, and self-microfluidic properties. Enhanced natural fiber surface has been used as a substrate in colorimetric and electrochemical sensors. This review focuses on improving the natural fiber properties for preparation as a substrate for chemical sensors. Various methods for natural fiber extraction are discussed and compared. Bleaching and decolorization is important for preparation of colorimetric sensors, while carbonization and nanoparticle doping are favorable for increasing their electrical conductivity for electrochemical sensor fabrication. Also, example fabrications and applications of natural fiber-based chemical sensors for chemical and biomarker detection are discussed. The selectivity of the sensors can be introduced and improved by surface modification of natural fiber, such as enzyme immobilization and biorecognition element functionalization, illustrating the adaptability of natural fiber as a smart sensing device, e.g., wearable and portable sensors. Ultimately, the high performances of natural fiber-based chemical sensors indicate the potential uses of natural fiber as a renewable and eco-friendly substrate material in the field of chemical sensors and biosensors for clinical diagnosis and environmental monitoring.

Remodeling of the Intra-Conduit Inflammatory Microenvironment to Improve Peripheral Nerve Regeneration with a Neuromechanical Matching Protein-Based Conduit

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) remains a challenging area in regenerative medicine. Nerve guide conduit (NGC) transplantation is a common treatment for PNI, but the prognosis of NGC treatment is unsatisfactory due to 1) neuromechanical unmatching and 2) the intra-conduit inflammatory microenvironment (IME) resulting from Schwann cell pyroptosis and inflammatory-polarized macrophages. A neuromechanically matched NGC composed of regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) loaded with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene sulfonate) (P:P) and dimethyl fumarate (DMF) are designed, which exhibits a matched elastic modulus (25.1 ± 3.5 MPa) for the peripheral nerve and the highest 80% elongation at break, better than most protein-based conduits. Moreover, the NGC can gradually regulate the intra-conduit IME by releasing DMF and monitoring sciatic nerve movements via piezoresistive sensing. The combination of NGC and electrical stimulation modulates the IME to support PNI regeneration by synergistically inhibiting Schwann cell pyroptosis and reducing inflammatory factor release, shifting macrophage polarization from the inflammatory M1 phenotype to the tissue regenerative M2 phenotype and resulting in functional recovery of neurons. In a rat sciatic nerve crush model, NGC promoted remyelination and functional and structural regeneration. Generally, the DMF/RSF/P:P conduit provides a new potential therapeutic approach to promote nerve repair in future clinical treatments.

Natural down fiber-reinforced and polypyrrole-modified silk fibroin composite aerogel for efficient solar steam generation toward seawater desalination and wastewater treatment

Poor mechanical properties and low photothermal efficiency of silk fibroin (SF)-based aerogels are current challenges that need to be addressed. Herein, SF composite aerogel was developed to enhance the mechanical properties through physical interpenetration of natural down fiber (Df) and hydrogen bonds formed among SF, Df, and polypyrrole (PPy) and to improve the evaporation performance via in-situ polymerization of PPy. The resultant Df/PPy@SF aerogel showed significant improvement of compressive stress (194.29 kPa), which was 6.96 times than that of SF aerogel (27.91 kPa), and also good compression resiliency. Furthermore, due to uniform distribution of PPy and high porosity of 95.27 %, Df/PPy@SF aerogel possessed high light absorbance of 99.87 % and low thermal conductivity (0.043 W·m-1·K-1). Thus, the Df/PPy@SF aerogel evaporator demonstrated high evaporation rates of 2.12 kg·m-2·h-1 for 3.5 wt% saline water, 2.04-2.15 kg·m-2·h-1 for various dye water, and 2.10 kg·m-2·h-1 for actual dye wastewater. Moreover, the developed aerogel exhibited evaporation stability and outstanding salt-resistance when treating seawater due to continuous water supply by superhydrophilic porous aerogel. Therefore, these findings demonstrate the excellent performance of Df/PPy@SF aerogel and will inspire further research on developing natural fiber-reinforced aerogels for use in the fields of solar water evaporation, energy, and other related applications.

Transparent silk fibroin film-facilitated infected-wound healing through antibacterial, improved fibroblast adhesion and immune modulation

The clinical application of regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) films for wound treatment is restricted by its undesirable mechanical properties and lack of antibacterial activity. Herein, different pluronic polymers were introduced to optimize their mechanical properties and the RSF film with 2.5% pluronic F127 (RSFPF127) stood out to address the above issues owing to its satisfactory mechanical properties, hydrophilicity, and transmittance. Diverse antibacterial agents (curcumin, Ag nanoparticles, and antimicrobial peptide KR-12) were separately encapsulated in RSFPF127 to endow it with antibacterial activity. In vitro experiments revealed that the medicated RSFPF127 could persistently release drugs and had desirable bioactivities toward killing bacteria, promoting fibroblast adhesion, and modulating macrophage polarization. In vivo experiments revealed that medicated RSFPF127 not only eradicated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the wound area and inhibited inflammatory responses, but also facilitated angiogenesis and re-epithelialization, regardless of the types of antibacterial agents, thus accelerating the recovery of infected wounds. These results demonstrate that RSFPF127 is an ideal matrix platform to load different types of drugs for application as wound dressings.

A Simplified Method for the Preparation of Highly Conductive and Flexible Silk Nanofibrils/MXene Membrane

Silk nanofibers (SNF) have great applications in high-performance functional nanocomposites due to their excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and degradability. However, the preparation of SNF by traditional methods often requires the use of some environmentally harmful or toxic reagents, limiting its application in green chemistry. In this paper, we successfully prepared SNF using natural silk as raw material and solvent stripping technology by adjusting the solvent concentration and solution ratio (the diameter of about 120 nm). Using the above SNFs as raw materials, SNF membranes were prepared by vacuum filtration technology. In addition, we prepared an SNF/MXene nanocomposite material with excellent humidity sensitivity by simply coating MXene nanosheets with silk fibers. The conductivity of the material can approach 1400.6 S m-1 with excellent mechanical strength (51.34 MPa). The SNF/MXene nanocomposite material with high mechanical properties, high conductivity, and green degradability can be potentially applied in the field of electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, providing a feasible approach for the development of functional nanocomposite materials.

Structural Characteristics and Properties of Cocoon and Regenerated Silk Fibroin from Different Silkworm Strains

Silk has attracted the attention of researchers as a biomedical and cosmetic material because of its good biocompatibility and cytocompatibility. Silk is produced from the cocoons of silkworms, which have various strains. In this study, silkworm cocoons and silk fibroins (SFs) were obtained from ten silkworm strains, and their structural characteristics and properties were examined. The morphological structure of the cocoons depended on the silkworm strains. The degumming ratio of silk ranged from 22.8% to 28% depending on the silkworm strains. The highest and lowest solution viscosities of SF were shown by 9671 and 9153, respectively, showing a 12-fold difference. The silkworm strains of 9671, KJ5, and I-NOVI showed a two-fold higher work of ruptures for the regenerated SF film than 181 and 2203, indicating that the silkworm strains considerably influence the mechanical properties of the regenerated SF film. Regardless of the silkworm strain, all silkworm cocoons showed good cell viability, making them suitable candidates for advanced functional biomaterials.