Silk materials at the convergence of science, sustainability, healthcare, and technology

Abstract

Over the past few decades, Bombyx mori silk fibroin has become a ubiquitous material for applications ranging from biomedical devices to optics, electronics, and sensing, while also showing potential in the food supply chain and being re-engineered as a functional material for architecture and design-related applications. Its widespread use derives from its unique properties, including biocompatibility, edibility, optical transparency, stabilization of labile compounds, and the ability to controllably change conformation and degrade in a programmed way. This review discusses recent and pivotal silk-based devices in which the presence of silk brings added value in terms of functionality, as demonstrated in a broad variety of fields. First, it gives an overview of silk's natural structure and main properties in terms of cross-linking, biocompatibility, and biodegradability to provide the reader with the necessary toolbox to fully make use of silk's multifaceted properties. Then, multifunctional silk-based devices are discussed highlighting the advantage of using silk over more traditional materials. Representative devices from both established and emerging applications for silk are examined. Finally, a roadmap for the next generation of silk-based devices is laid out.

Generation of Complex Tunable Multispectral Signatures with Reconfigurable Protein‐Based, Plasmonic‐Photonic Crystal Hybrid Nanostructures

“…[45] The use of silk as the photonic template is motivated by the protein's ability to generate high-quality photonic crystals with uniform and reproducible nanostructured geometries and, thus, consistent optical functions, by taking advantage of its robust mechanical properties, nanoscale processability, and remarkable optical properties. [46,47] The fabricated P 3 crystal films are mechanically sturdy and optically stable, which is crucial for the various photonic applications described below. Silk fibroin also enables the fabrication and reconfiguration of the photonic nanostructures through the use of controllable structural transitions when exposed to external stimuli (such as oxygen plasma, electron/ion beams, water vapor, and ultraviolet light).…”

Biomaterials Technology for AgroFood Resilience

“…In this domain, silk fibroin regenerated from Bombyx mori cocoons may serve as a good example to illustrate how an ancient material can be reinvented and engineered into various high-tech and multifunctional formats to enhance food safety and security in a sustainable way. [413,414] Moving forward, utilization of biomaterials in the agriculture and food industry still faces various challenges. Unlike many healthcare applications, which could justify huge investments in the research & development of novel biomaterials-based devices and platforms, agricultural practices generally cannot afford costly raw materials and sophisticated micro-/nanofabrication techniques, which would make the price of food products prohibitive for certain populations, thereby further aggravating food insecurity.…”

“…In this domain, silk fibroin regenerated from Bombyx mori cocoons may serve as a good example to illustrate how an ancient material can be reinvented and engineered into various high‐tech and multifunctional formats to enhance food safety and security in a sustainable way. [ 413,414 ]…”

Bioinspired silk fibroin materials: From silk building blocks extraction and reconstruction to advanced biomedical applications

“…In order to solve this issue, a promising bioinspired strategy is first extracting the desired building blocks of degummed natural silk, then reconstructed them into functional regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) materials with varied formats including microspheres, fibers, films, electrospun mats, hydrogels, and 3D porous scaffolds etc . [ 2 , 8 , 9 ]. This bioinspired indirect approach could give RSF material excellent processability and easy to be combined synergistically with other biomaterials to form biopolymer composites, which could well meet the diversified needs and hence has been intensively investigated for usage in different biomedical applications.…”