Modification of electrospun silk fibroin nanofiber mats: using an EDC/NHS ethanol solvent

The application of electrospun silk fibroin nanofiber mats ware restricted for its poor mechanical property. The goal of the present study was to improve the mechanical property of silk fibroin nanofiber mats. EDC/NHS ethanol system was employed to treat silk fibroin nanofiber mats to modify the property of silk fibroin nanofiber mats. The as-spun, ethanol treated, and EDC/NHS ethanol treated silk fibroin nanofiber mats were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry-Differential thermal analysis, and Instron tester. After ethanol and EDC/NHS treatments, the conformation transition of silk fibroin was detected by FTIR and WAXD. The crosslinker EDC/NHS will form abundant "amide" bonds within silk fibroin which was confirmed by FTIR and tensile mechanical test. Compared to as-spun and ethanol treated silk fibroin nanofiber mats, the EDC/NHS ethanol treated one demonstrated significantly enhanced breaking elongation by 136%. The significant increase in breaking elongation made the electrospun silk fibroin nanofiber mats more promising scaffold materials for practical tissue engineering application.