Preparation of Cellulose Nanofibril/Regenerated Silk Fibroin Composite Fibers

Wet-spun silk fibers have attracted the attention of many researchers because of 1) the unique properties of silk as a biomaterial, including good biocompatibility and cyto-compatability and 2) the various methods available to control the structure and properties of the fiber.Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) have typically been used as a reinforcing material for natural and synthetic polymers.In this study, CNF-embedded silk fibroin (SF) nanocomposite fibers were prepared for the first time.The effects of CNF content on the rheology of the dope solution and the characteristics of wet-spun CNF/SF composite fibers were also examined.A 5% SF formic acid solution that contained no CNFs showed nearly Newtonian fluid behavior, with slight shear thinning.However, after the addition of 1% CNFs, the viscosity of the dope solution increased significantly, and apparent shear thinning was observed.The maximum draw ratio of the CNF/SF composite fibers decreased as the CNF content increased.Interestingly, the crystallinity index for the silk in the CNF/SF fibers was sequentially reduced as the CNF content was increased.This phenomenon may be due to the fact that the CNFs prevent b-sheet crystallization of the SF by elimination of formic acid from the dope solution during the coagulation process.The CNF/SF composite fibers displayed a relatively smooth surface with stripes, at low magnification (x500).However, a rugged nanoscale surface was observed at high magnification (x10,000), and the surface roughness increased with the CNF content.