Research Progress in Silk Fibroin and Its Composite Materials

Abstract

Silk fibroin is a natural polymer with biocompatibility,biodegradability and other excellent properties, which is a promising material in the fields of medicine,food and cosmetics,etc. In this work,the preparation techniques,material structure,properties and development trend for silk fibroin and its composites with natural biological protein,inorganic material,synthetic polymer,carbon nanotube and graphene oxide were introduced, respectively. The preparation principles of materials were explained,with an emphasis on the relationship between preparation methods and properties. The interaction mechanism between individual composites was analyzed,and the application on tissue engineering,drug application,anticoagulant materials and other aspects were also summarized. According to the key factors which restrict the research and development of silk fibroin and its composites,the promising future development ways were proposed,for example,realizing the scale production, developing the intelligent materials and restructuring modification of silk fibroin from the gene aspect.