Tough synthetic spider-silk fibers obtained by titanium dioxide incorporation and formaldehyde cross-linking in a simple wet-spinning process

• Published in: Biochimie Vol. 175; pp. 77 - 84
• Main Authors: Zhu, Hongnian, Sun, Yuan, Yi, Tuo, Wang, Suyang, Mi, Junpeng, Meng, Qing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: France Elsevier B.V 01.08.2020
• Subjects: Animals; Fibroins - chemistry; Formaldehyde - chemistry; Formaldehyde cross-linking; Recombinant Proteins - chemistry; Spiders; Synthetic spider-silk fiber; Tensile property; Titanium - chemistry; Titanium dioxide incorporation; Synthetic spider-silk fiber; Tensile property; Titanium dioxide incorporation; Formaldehyde cross-linking
• ISSN: 0300-9084; 1638-6183
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2020.05.003

Due to its unique mechanical properties, spider silk shows great promise as a strong super-thin fiber in many fields. Although progress has been made in the field of synthesizing spider-silk fiber from recombinant spidroin (spider silk protein) in the last few decades, methods to obtain synthetic spider-silk fibers as tough as natural silk from small-sized recombinant protein with a simple spinning process have eluded scientists. In this paper, a recombinant spidroin (MW: 93.4 kDa) was used to spin tough synthetic spider-silk fibers with a simple wet-spinning process. Titanium oxide incorporation and formaldehyde cross-linking were used to improve the mechanical properties of synthetic spider-silk fibers. Fibers treated with incorporation or/and cross-linking varied in microstructure, strength and extensibility while all exhibited enhanced strength and toughness. In particular, one fiber possessed a toughness of 249 ± 22 MJ/m3. This paper presents a new method to successfully spin tough spider-silk fibers in a simple way. •A new method to obtain tough synthetic spider-silk fibers.•Tough synthetic spider-silk fibers spun from small-sized recombinant spidroin.•Spinning synthetic spider-silk fiber by using a much simpler spinning process.•Titanium dioxide or/and formaldehyde can toughen synthetic spider-silk fiber.