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Preparation and characterization of electrospun silk fibroin/sericin blend fibers

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Abstract

In this work, the silk fibroin/sericin (SF/SS) blend aqueous solutions with different SF/SS mass ratios (100/0, 90/10, 85/15, 75/25, and 65/35) were prepared and electrospun to get regenerated fibers. It was found that the addition of SS in the SF solution could increase the apparent viscosity of the solution and improve its electrospinnability so that the fine uniform electrospun SF/SS fibers could be obtained. The quantitative analysis result of Raman spectroscopy showed that the presence of SS facilitated the conformational transition of SF from random coil/α-helix structure to β-sheet structure. Combined with the differential scanning calorimetry result, it was further hypothesized that SS could affect the structural change of SF by dehydrating SF and inducing the formation of hydrogen bonds between SF molecules. Consequently, SS also played an important and positive role in the thermal and mechanical properties of the resultant SF/SS fibers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, People’s Republic of China

    Yichun Hang, Yaopeng Zhang, Yuan Jin, Huili Shao & Xuechao Hu

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  1. Yichun Hang
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  2. Yaopeng Zhang
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  3. Yuan Jin
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  4. Huili Shao
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  5. Xuechao Hu
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Correspondence to Huili Shao.

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Hang, Y., Zhang, Y., Jin, Y. et al. Preparation and characterization of electrospun silk fibroin/sericin blend fibers. Journal of Materials Research 26, 2931–2937 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.356

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.356

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