scholarly journals Fabrication of flexible conductive silk fibroin/polythiophene membrane and its properties

e-Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-57
Author(s):  
Xin Ai ◽  
Shuqing Lu ◽  
Ailing Xie ◽  
Haoran Zhang ◽  
Juntao Zhao ◽  
...  

Abstract Silk fibroin (SF) film is an insulating material, which can be combined with polythiophene derivatives with electrical conductivity to obtain a flexible conductive material. In this work, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) was used to graft a silk protein film. The hydroxyl radical is formed by activation and oxidation of the silk protein film polymerized with the PEDOT radical formed by oxidation of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene to obtain a conductive silk film. The SF/PEDOT film, when tested, showed excellent electrical conductivity with resistance up to 63 Ω·cm−2, good flexibility, mechanical properties, fastness, and biocompatibility.

Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoran Zhang ◽  
Juntao Zhao ◽  
Tieling Xing ◽  
Shenzhou Lu ◽  
Guoqiang Chen

Silk fibroin (SF) is a natural material with good biocompatibility and excellent mechanical properties, which are complementary to graphene with ultrahigh electrical conductivity. In this study, to maximally combine graphene and silk fibroin, a well-dispersed silk fibroin/graphene suspension was successfully prepared in a simple and effective way. Then we prepared a flexible conductive SF/graphene film with a minimum resistance of 72.1 ± 4.7 Ω/sq by the casting method. It was found that the electrical conductivity of the SF/graphene film was related to the water content of the film, and the variation was more than 200 times. Therefore, it will play an important role in the field of humidity sensors. It also has excellent mechanical properties in both wet and dry states. These unique features make this material a promising future in the fields of biomedical applications, wearable sensors, and implantable internal sensors.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-Yu Chen ◽  
Szu Ying Huang ◽  
Hung-Yu Wan ◽  
Yi-Ting Chen ◽  
Sheng-Ka Yu ◽  
...  

Electronic textiles (E-textiles) have been an area of intense industrial and academic research for years due to their advanced applications. Thus, the goal of this study was to develop highly conductive silk fibroin electrochromic nanofibers for use in E-textiles. The silk nanofibers were prepared by an electrospinning technique, and the conductive polyaniline (PANI) was added to impart the electrical conductivity and electroactive property to the resultant electrospun silk composite nanofibers. The experimental results showed that tuning the electrospinning procedure could control the morphology of the composite nanofibers, thus altering their mechanical properties and surface wettability. Furthermore, the developed PANI/silk composite fibers possess electroactive and electrochromic properties, such as adjusting the applied voltage. The developed strategy demonstrated the feasibility of incorporating not only electrical functionality but also electroactivity into sustainable silk nanofibers using electrospinning technique.


Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1456
Author(s):  
Isabel Matos Oliveira ◽  
Cristiana Gonçalves ◽  
Myeong Eun Shin ◽  
Sumi Lee ◽  
Rui Luis Reis ◽  
...  

Rheumatoid arthritis is a rheumatic disease for which a healing treatment does not presently exist. Silk fibroin has been extensively studied for use in drug delivery systems due to its uniqueness, versatility and strong clinical track record in medicine. However, in general, natural polymeric materials are not mechanically stable enough, and have high rates of biodegradation. Thus, synthetic materials such as gellan gum can be used to produce composite structures with biological signals to promote tissue-specific interactions while providing the desired mechanical properties. In this work, we aimed to produce hydrogels of tyramine-modified gellan gum with silk fibroin (Ty–GG/SF) via horseradish peroxidase (HRP), with encapsulated betamethasone, to improve the biocompatibility and mechanical properties, and further increase therapeutic efficacy to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The Ty–GG/SF hydrogels presented a β-sheet secondary structure, with gelation time around 2–5 min, good resistance to enzymatic degradation, a suitable injectability profile, viscoelastic capacity with a significant solid component and a betamethasone-controlled release profile over time. In vitro studies showed that Ty–GG/SF hydrogels did not produce a deleterious effect on cellular metabolic activity, morphology or proliferation. Furthermore, Ty–GG/SF hydrogels with encapsulated betamethasone revealed greater therapeutic efficacy than the drug applied alone. Therefore, this strategy can provide an improvement in therapeutic efficacy when compared to the traditional use of drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhanyu Jia ◽  
Guangyao Li ◽  
Juan Wang ◽  
shouhua Su ◽  
Jie Wen ◽  
...  

Conductivity, self-healing and moderate mechanical properties are necessary for multifunctional hydrogels which have great potential in health-monitor sensor application. However, the combination of electrical conductivity, self-healing and good mechanical properties...


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3140
Author(s):  
Kamil Dydek ◽  
Anna Boczkowska ◽  
Rafał Kozera ◽  
Paweł Durałek ◽  
Łukasz Sarniak ◽  
...  

The main aim of this work was the investigation of the possibility of replacing the heavy metallic meshes applied onto the composite structure in airplanes for lightning strike protection with a thin film of Tuball single-wall carbon nanotubes in the form of ultra-light, conductive paper. The Tuball paper studied contained 75 wt% or 90 wt% of carbon nanotubes and was applied on the top of carbon fibre reinforced polymer before fabrication of flat panels. First, the electrical conductivity, impact resistance and thermo-mechanical properties of modified laminates were measured and compared with the reference values. Then, flat panels with selected Tuball paper, expanded copper foil and reference panels were fabricated for lightning strike tests. The effectiveness of lightning strike protection was evaluated by using the ultrasonic phased-array technique. It was found that the introduction of Tuball paper on the laminates surface improved both the surface and the volume electrical conductivity by 8800% and 300%, respectively. The impact resistance was tested in two directions, perpendicular and parallel to the carbon fibres, and the values increased by 9.8% and 44%, respectively. The dynamic thermo-mechanical analysis showed higher stiffness and a slight increase in glass transition temperature of the modified laminates. Ultrasonic investigation after lightning strike tests showed that the effectiveness of Tuball paper is comparable to expanded copper foil.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 3391
Author(s):  
Sylwia Grabska-Zielińska ◽  
Alina Sionkowska ◽  
Ewa Olewnik-Kruszkowska ◽  
Katarzyna Reczyńska ◽  
Elżbieta Pamuła

The aim of this work was to compare physicochemical properties of three dimensional scaffolds based on silk fibroin, collagen and chitosan blends, cross-linked with dialdehyde starch (DAS) and dialdehyde chitosan (DAC). DAS was commercially available, while DAC was obtained by one-step synthesis. Structure and physicochemical properties of the materials were characterized using Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance device (FTIR-ATR), swelling behavior and water content measurements, porosity and density observations, scanning electron microscopy imaging (SEM), mechanical properties evaluation and thermogravimetric analysis. Metabolic activity with AlamarBlue assay and live/dead fluorescence staining were performed to evaluate the cytocompatibility of the obtained materials with MG-63 osteoblast-like cells. The results showed that the properties of the scaffolds based on silk fibroin, collagen and chitosan can be modified by chemical cross-linking with DAS and DAC. It was found that DAS and DAC have different influence on the properties of biopolymeric scaffolds. Materials cross-linked with DAS were characterized by higher swelling ability (~4000% for DAS cross-linked materials; ~2500% for DAC cross-linked materials), they had lower density (Coll/CTS/30SF scaffold cross-linked with DAS: 21.8 ± 2.4 g/cm3; cross-linked with DAC: 14.6 ± 0.7 g/cm3) and lower mechanical properties (maximum deformation for DAC cross-linked scaffolds was about 69%; for DAS cross-linked scaffolds it was in the range of 12.67 ± 1.51% and 19.83 ± 1.30%) in comparison to materials cross-linked with DAC. Additionally, scaffolds cross-linked with DAS exhibited higher biocompatibility than those cross-linked with DAC. However, the obtained results showed that both types of scaffolds can provide the support required in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. The scaffolds presented in the present work can be potentially used in bone tissue engineering to facilitate healing of small bone defects.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingzhong Mao ◽  
Yusheng Zhang ◽  
Yazhou Guo ◽  
Yonghao Zhao

AbstractThe rapid development of high-speed rail requires copper contact wire that simultaneously possesses excellent electrical conductivity, thermal stability and mechanical properties. Unfortunately, these are generally mutually exclusive properties. Here, we demonstrate directional optimization of microstructure and overcome the strength-conductivity tradeoff in copper wire. We use rotary swaging to prepare copper wire with a fiber texture and long ultrafine grains aligned along the wire axis. The wire exhibits a high electrical conductivity of 97% of the international annealed copper standard (IACS), a yield strength of over 450 MPa, high impact and wear resistances, and thermal stability of up to 573 K for 1 h. Subsequent annealing enhances the conductivity to 103 % of IACS while maintaining a yield strength above 380 MPa. The long grains provide a channel for free electrons, while the low-angle grain boundaries between ultrafine grains block dislocation slip and crack propagation, and lower the ability for boundary migration.


Author(s):  
Haiyan Zheng ◽  
Baoqi Zuo

This article reviews the current status of the preparation, properties and application of functional silk protein hydrogels.


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