Colored and Luminescent Silk

ABSTRACT

Silk plays a vital role in textiles and biomedical applications because of its surpassing mechanical properties and extraordinary bio-compatibility. Different physical and chemical methods have been proposed to reconstruct silk into desired forms and to produce the materials that best imitate the silk. Besides the direct usage of silk and the delicate replication of its original structure and properties, there is a thriving interest in acquainting new practicality into silk while sustaining its unique intrinsic properties. Different methods and their advantages in developing functional silk, especially those with luminescence and color done in post-processing steps and biological ways have been discussed. There is a wide range of applications of intrinsically luminescent and colored silk that is directly produced from the silkworms. This is because appropriate molecular properties are incorporated effectively into the silk and hence intrinsically luminescent and colored silk is produced in the silk gland of the silkworm. With these perspectives, an updated generation of silk-containing several functional materials (e.g., medicine, antibiotics, and stimuli-sensitive dyes) can be developed for novel applications such as cancer therapy with optimized release attribute, wound dressing with monitoring/sensing property, tissue engineering scaffolds with antibacterial feature, anticoagulant feature, anti-inflammatory feature, and even more.

摘要

丝绸因其卓越的力学性能和非凡的生物相容性, 在纺织和生物医学应用中发挥着至关重要的作用. 人们已经提出了不同的物理和化学方法来将丝绸改造成所需的形状, 并生产出最能模仿丝绸的材料. 除了直接使用丝绸和对其原始结构和性能的精细复制外, 人们对了解丝绸的新实用性, 同时保持其独特的内在性能有着浓厚的兴趣. 讨论了开发功能性蚕丝的不同方法及其优势, 特别是在后处理步骤和生物方法中进行发光和着色的方法. 直接从蚕丝中生产的本色发光丝绸有着广泛的应用. 因为, 适当的分子特性被有效地结合到蚕丝中, 因此在蚕丝腺体中产生了本质上发光和有色的蚕丝. 基于这些观点, 可以开发含有多种功能材料 (例如, 药物、抗生素和刺激敏感染料) 的最新一代丝绸, 用于新的应用, 例如具有优化释放属性的癌症治疗、具有监测/传感特性的伤口敷料, 组织工程支架具有抗菌、抗凝、抗炎等特性.

KEYWORDS:

• Silk
• bio-compatibility
• intrinsic
• luminescent
• molecular properties
• functionality

关键词:

• 蚕丝
• 生物相容性
• 固有
• 发光
• 分子特性
• 功能

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).