BIOLOGICAL ROUTE TO FUNCTIONAL FIBERS

摘要

Manufacturing metallic or metallic-coated fibers usually requires a high temperature and high pressure process, which is environmentally unfriendly and costly. Recent researches indicated that genetically controlled proteins can be used as templates to mineralize metals at room temperature. And in nature, spiders and silk worms are known to use fibroin proteins in fabricating their perfect fibers through spinnerets. Potentially, fibers made out of genetically controlled proteins can be used to mineralize metals and form metallic fibers. These biological materials could open a new synthesis route to manufacture functional fibers in fiber science and industry. In this paper, we will introduce the application of a genetically controlled filamentous bacteriophage in fabrication of functional fibers.