The preparation of insoluble fibroin films induced by degummed fibroin or fibroin microspheres

Blending degummed fibroin (DF) or insoluble fibroin microspheres with concentrated fibroin solution, the insoluble films were obtained through drying the solution at 40-45°C. The conformation of silk fibroin films was analyzed by infrared spectrum and X-ray diffractometry. The results demonstrated that β-sheet conformation increased rapidly when the degummed silk or insoluble microspheres blended with fibroin, while the pure SF membrane was mainly composed of α/random coil conformation when the other conditions kept same. This suggested that fibroin microspheres and degummed fibroin could induce the formation of β-sheet crystal and the insoluble films, without methanol after-treatment, could be obtained at approximately room temperature. Although the fibroin films blending with DF had many protuberances, the films containing fibroin microspheres had the smooth surface and could be used effectively in biotechnological materials and biomedical application.