Structure and properties of various hybrids fabricated by silk nanofibrils and nanohydroxyapatite

• Published in: Nanoscale Vol. 8; no. 48; pp. 20096 - 20102
• Main Authors: Mi, Ruixin, Liu, Yingxin, Chen, Xin, Shao, Zhengzhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 28.12.2016
• Subjects: Bones; Demand; Filtration; Hydrogels; Hydroxyapatite; Morphology; Nanostructure; Surgical implants
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/c6nr07359j

To harvest silk fibroin (SF) based organic/inorganic composites with various general properties (e.g. hard or soft), the strategies of vacuum filtration and centrifugation were employed in this work to produce a film and hydrogel of SF-nanofibril/nanohydroxyapatite, respectively. It was found that the SF-nanofibril mediated the mineralization of hydroxyapatites (HAP) in situ and the morphology of such organic/inorganic nanohybrids presented a "flower-like" structure, mainly because of the strong interaction between SF-nanofibrils and nanohydroxyapatites. On the other hand, the extracellular matrix (ECM) like SF/HAP hydrogel illustrated not only an adequate mechanical strength, but also a remarkable thixotropy, with the storage modulus (G') being able to recover to 85% within 50 seconds when a large shearing strain (5000%) was applied. Moreover, the mechanical properties of these well-organized materials were adjustable for varied demands, and the whole fabrication process was simple and eco-friendly. Therefore, all results indicate that hybrids of SF-nanofibril/nanohydroxyapatite have promise in applications, particularly in bone tissue engineering.