Abstract:

CaCl2-Formid Acid (FA) system was adopted to dissolve degummed silk, SF solution was dried, desalt to obtain SF films. Then the SF films were dissolved in FA to obtain SF solution with concentration of 4%, 6% and 8%, respectively. The SF nanofibers were made by electrospinning with cylinder collector. Rheological behavior, SEM, FTIR and degradation were applied to characterize the property of nanofibers. The results indicated that the viscosity of low concentration of solutions (4%) was low, and some droplets will appear when electrospinning, the diameter of fibers was coarse with high concentration of solutions (8%). In this paper, the fibers were superior with the concentration of 6%5%, and the diameter was range from 150nm to 250nm. After 75% ethanol treatment, the conformation of SF nanofibers was transformed from α-helical to β-sheet by FTIR. The degradation tests demonstrated that the morphology of nanofibers was changed obviously after soaked in PBS and actinomycetes protease solution, and it was confirmed that the fiber was biodegradable.