Silk Fibroin as a Green Material

Silk fibroin has been explored as a suitable biomaterial due to its biocompatibility, tunable degradability, low toxicity, and mechanical properties. To harness silk fibroin's innate properties, it is purified from native silkworm cocoons by removing proteins and debris that have the potential to cause inflammatory responses. Typically, within the purification and fabrication steps, chemical solvents, energy-intensive equipment, and large quantities of water are used to reverse engineer silk fibroin into an aqueous solution and then process into the final material format. Gentler, green methods for extraction and fabrication have been developed that reduce or remove the need for harmful chemical additives and energy-inefficient equipment while still producing mechanically robust biomaterials. This review will focus on the alternative green processing and fabrication methods that have proven useful in creating silk fibroin materials for a range of applications including consumer and medical materials.

Automated summary

Silk fibroin is explored as a suitable biomaterial due to its biocompatibility, tunable degradability, low toxicity, and mechanical properties. Traditional methods for extracting and processing silk fibroin involve the use of chemical solvents, energy-intensive equipment, and large quantities of water, while newer green methods have been developed to reduce the need for harmful additives and energy-inefficient equipment while still producing mechanically robust biomaterials.