Green preparation of silk fibroin/bamboo-derived cellulose nanofibril nanocomposite films with high mechanical strength

摘要

Regenerated silk fibroin (SF) has broad application prospects in tissue engineering due to its excellent biocompatibility, but its lack of adequate mechanical properties restricts its application as a biomaterial. In this study, bamboo-derived cellulose nanofibrils (BCNFs) were used as reinforcers to prepare SF/BCNF nanocomposite films under an all-aqueous solvent system. The results demonstrated that the BCNFs were uniformly dispersed in the SF matrix and significantly improved the mechanical properties of the nanocomposite films. The nanocomposite films achieved a maximal tensile strength of 30.25 +/- 0.96 MPa and Young's modulus of 1.42 +/- 0.03 GPa when the addition of BCNFs was 1.5 wt. The nanocomposite films could support the adhesion and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. This study outlined a novel method to prepare BCNF-reinforced SF nanocomposite films with enhanced mechanical properties and biocompatibility (under an all-aqueous solvent system, without destroying the multiscale fibrillar structure of cellulose), which exhibited broad applications prospects in tissue engineering. GRAPHICS .