Bacterial Cellulose Nanocrystals-embedded Silk Nanofibers

초록

Recently considerable effort has been directed toward the use of silk fibroin as a biotechnological material in biomedical applications because of its excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility [1]. However, the crystallinity of the silk fibroin decreases during the process of regenerating silk fibroin, thereby deteriorating the mechanical properties of the regenerated silk fibroin compared to those of natural cocoon fiber. Therefore, the possibility of producing silk fibroin-based biomaterials by blending with other polymers or adding reinforcements is of great interest. Cellulose nanocrystals obtained by acid hydrolysis of cellulose has been at the central stage of nano-reinforcements due to a number of advantages, including their high aspect ratio, excellent mechanical properties and biodegradability [2]. In this study, we prepared silk fibroin/bacterial cellulose nanocrystals nanocomposites by electrospinning. The morphology and structure of the electrospun nanofibers were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The tensile properties of the nanofibers were investigated according to the incorporation of bacterial cellulose nanocrystals