Silk fibroin as sustainable advanced material: material properties and characteristics, processing, and applications

Bio-based resources are proposed as next-generation materials for advanced application. Among them, silk fibroin, a protein-based material generally obtained from Bombyx mori cocoons, is considered to play an increasing role in the development of a more sustainable generation of devices. In this review, the silk fibroin molecular structure and its original properties are presented, together with a wide overview of the available modifications and processing methods to reach custom structural and functional variations. The authors thank the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) for financial support under the framework of Strategic Funding grants UID/FIS/04650/2019, and UID/EEA/04436/2019; and project PTDC/FIS-MAC/28157/2017. The author also thanks the FCT for investigator FCT contract 2020.04028.CEECIND (C.M.C.) as well as by the POCH and European Union. The authors thank funding by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERFD) through the project PID2019-106099RB-C43 / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033 and from the Basque Government Industry and Education Departments under the ELKARTEK program, respectively