Preparation and characterization of silk fibroin/hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) blend films

The present research work deals with the characterization of blend films obtained by mixing silk fibroin (SF) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) solutions. Structural, chemical, surface morphology, mechanical and thermal property changes of silk fibroin by the addition of HPMC were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), universal testing machine (UTM), thermogravimetric (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results indicate that with the introduction of HPMC, the interactions between SF and HPMC in the blend films induced the conformation transition of SF from random coil form or silk I to β-sheet structure or silk II form. The SF/HPMC blend films are flexible, and showed enhanced mechanical properties also the thermal stability of the films was improved significantly.