Study on the preparation of collagen-modified silk fibroin films and their properties

Blended films were prepared from a silk fibroin (SF) solution by adding a small amount of type I collagen (<5%). The mechanical properties of the wet films modified by collagen were improved obviously. The elongation at break reached 42%, and the smaller contact angles revealed that modified films had better hydrophilicity. 1% heparin was also added to modify the SF films to further improve the in vitro antithrombogenecity. The internal structure of the modified SF films was investigated with scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflection spectroscopy. The result indicates that the addition of a small amount of collagen and heparin did not change their conformation.