科研之友
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摘要
Antheraea pernyi silk fibroin (ASF) nanofibers, with good biocompatibility and biodegradability, have promising potential for biomaterial applications. However, the concentration processing of ASF solution for improving spinnability to achieve aqueous-based electrospinning remains a challenge. In this study, to avoid complicated concentration processing we demonstrated that lyophilized ASF possesses good water-solubility to generate highly concentrated ASF solution. The lyophilized ASF can be stored for a long time without structural changes and was able to re-dissolve to form reconstituted solution, providing a facile approach for the preparation of high concentration ASF solution. To avoid the gelation, refrigeration at 4 degrees C can keep reconstituted ASF solution stable for long-term storage before electrospinning. It was found that the reconstituted ASF solution from lyophilized ASF solid exhibited good spinnability for uniform nanofiber formation when the concentration reached to 28.6 wt%, and a lower environmental temperature is preferential for prolonged electrospinning. Although a low concentration ASF aqueous solution was not electrospun into nanofibers, the solution could be fabricated into microspheres by electrospraying in a liquid nitrogen bath. The simple aqueous-based electrospining of ASF provides useful options for the fabrication of ASF biomaterials.
