Post-spinning modification of electrospun nanofiber nanocomposite from Bombyx mori silk and carbon nanotubes

Electrospinning is an effective procedure for fabricating submicron to nanoscale fibers from synthetic polymer as well as natural proteins. We successfully electrospun regenerated silk protein from cocoons of Bombyx mori to produce random as well as aligned fibers with diameter less than 100 nm. The fibers were characterized using field emission environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) studies. Post-spinning treatment with methanol and/or stretching and co-electrospinning with single walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) were carried out to alter the strength, toughness, crystallinity and conductivity of silk nanofibers. Addition of just 1% CNT along with post-spinning treatments resulted in 7-fold increase in the strength and 35-fold increase in the modulus of silk nanofibers. Raman spectroscopy confirmed that CNTs were incorporated in the silk fibers. FT-IR spectroscopy and WAXD studies proved that silk-CNT nanofibers had more crystallinity compared to silk nanofibers without CNT. Four-probe method demonstrated that silk-CNT nanofibers had 4 times higher electrical conductivity compared to silk nanofibers without CNT. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.