Fabrication of high strength graphene/regenerated silk fibroin composite fibers by wet spinning

Fibers of regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) are usually brittle and weak, and this prevents its wide application as a structural material. To improve the mechanical properties of RSF, composite fibers of RSF reinforced via functional graphene oxide (FGO) with high strength were prepared by a simple and versatile method known as wet spinning. The greatest force at which hybrid fibers were made to break was 697 +/- 22 MPa, which is a 58.7% improvement over the breakage force of pure RSF silk fiber. In addition, the as-prepared FGO/RSF nanocomposite fibers also exhibit significant activity against both Gram-negative and Grampositive bacteria. The FGO/RSF composite fibers with good biocompatibility, the significant antibacterial activity and enhanced mechanical properties may have potential applications in tissue engineering, biomedical and biotechnological area. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.