Microfluidic Dry-spinning and Characterization of Regenerated Silk Fibroin Fibers

Summary

A protocol for the microfluidic spinning and microstructure characterization of regenerated silk fibroin monofilament is presented.

Abstract

The protocol demonstrates a method for mimicking the spinning process of silkworm. In the native spinning process, the contracting spinning duct enables the silk proteins to be compact and ordered by shearing and elongation forces. Here, a biomimetic microfluidic channel was designed to mimic the specific geometry of the spinning duct of the silkworm. Regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) spinning doped with high concentration, was extruded through the microchannel to dry-spin fibers at ambient temperature and pressure. In the post-treated process, the as-spun fibers were drawn and stored in ethanol aqueous solution. Synchrotron radiation wide-angle X-ray diffraction (SR-WAXD) technology was used to investigate the microstructure of single RSF fibers, which were fixed to a sample holder with the RSF fiber axis normal to the microbeam of the X-ray. The crystallinity, crystallite size, and crystalline orientation of the fiber were calculated from the WAXD data. The diffraction arcs near the equator of the two-dimensional WAXD pattern indicate that the post-treated RSF fiber has a high orientation degree.

Introduction

Spider and silkworm can produce outstanding silk fiber from aqueous protein solution at ambient temperature and pressure. Shearing and extensional flow can induce the formation of liquid crystal texture in the silk gland¹. In recent years, there has been a great interest in mimicking the spinning process of the spider in order to produce high strength artificial fibers. However, large quantities of spider silk protein cannot be produced efficiently and economically by farming spiders due to cannibalism. Substantial amounts of silkworm silk can be obtained easily by farming. Otherwise, the silkworm and spider have a similar spinning process and ....

Protocol

CAUTION: Please consult all relevant material safety data sheets before use. Several of the chemicals used in preparing the molding are acutely toxic. Please use personal protective equipment (safety glasses, gloves, lab coat, full length pants, and closed-toe shoes).

1. Microfluidic Spinning of RSF Aqueous Solution

1. Preparation of RSF aqueous spinning dope^4,15,16
   1. Degumming of silkworm cocoon
      1. Degum the Bombyx mori cocoons twice in Na₂CO₃ aqueous solutions (0.5 wt% ....

Results

High strength RSF fibers were successfully produced by using the microfluidic spinning method. The stress-strain curves and SEM images of the stretched RSF fibers C44R40 are shown in Figure 2. At least 10 fibers were measured in the tensile test. Stress-strain curves were chosen according to the average value of the breaking stress and strain of fibers. The WAXD data of the fibers are shown in Figure 3. The crystallinity and crys.......

Discussion

During the dialysis of the RSF solution, the pH value is critical for the following concentration process. If the pH value of the deionized water is smaller than 6, the RSF solution will be easier to gel during the concentration process. To avoid gelation, CaCl₂ is added to the RSF solution. The concentration of CaCl₂ is 1 mmol per weight of RSF.

Our previous work demonstrated the possibility of microfluidic dry-spinning of an RSF aqueous solution⁸.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
B. mori Cocoons	Farmer in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province, China
Sodium carbonate, anhydrous, 99.8%	Shanghai Lingfeng Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd., China		Analytically Pure
Lithium bromide, 99.1%	Shanghai China Lithium Industrial Co., Ltd., China		Analytically Pure
Calcium chloride, anhydrous, 96.0%	Shanghai Lingfeng Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd., China		Analytically Pure
Ethanol, anhydrous, 99.7%	Sinopharm Group Chemical Reagent Co.,Ltd., China	10009218	Analytically Pure
SU-8 photoresist	MicroChem Corp., USA
Developing solution	MicroChem Corp., USA
Sylgard 184	Dow Corning, USA
Isopropanol	Shanghai Lingfeng Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd., China		Analytically Pure
Concentrated sulfuric acid	Pinghu Chemical Reagent Factory, China		Analytically Pure
30 vol% hydrogen peroxide	Shanghai Jinlu Chemical reagent Co., Ltd., China		Analytically Pure
Acetone	Shanghai Zhengxing Chemical Reagent Factory, China		Analytically Pure
Oxygen plasma treatment	DT-01, Suzhou Omega Machinery Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., China
Syringe pump	KD Scientific, USA		KDS 200P
Humidifier	SEN electric
Driller	Hangzhou Bo Yang Machinery Co., Ltd., China		bench drilling machine Z406c
Material testing system	Instron, USA		Model: 5565
PeakFit	Systat Software, Inc., USA		Version 4.12