Various Morphological Forms of Silk Fibroin
摘要
Silk fibroin (SF) has recently become one of the focal points of research and application in numerous scientific domains, encompassing biomedicine, tissue engineering, food technology, photochemistry, and biosensing. This widespread interest stems from SF’s exceptional properties such as remarkable biocompatibility, tailorability, and versatility in chemical modifications. The process for obtaining the regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) includes several sequential steps including degumming, dissolution, dialysis, and centrifugation. Each of these steps plays a crucial role in refining SF into RSF, a material that can be further shaped into various forms including films, sponges, microspheres, gels, nanofibers, and others. The choice of dissolution method and morphology significantly affects the mechanical properties and degradation kinetics, thereby subsequently influencing its processing and application characteristics. This study offers a comprehensive examination and summary of various morphologies of SF, analyzing their impacts on the material’s structure and performance.