Engineering with keratin: A functional material and a source of bioinspiration
Benjamin S. Lazarus,
Charul Chadha,
Audrey Velasco-Hogan,
Josiane D.V. Barbosa,
Iwona Jasiuk,
Marc A. Meyers
Affiliations
Benjamin S. Lazarus
Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, USA; Corresponding author
Charul Chadha
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA
Audrey Velasco-Hogan
Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, USA
Josiane D.V. Barbosa
Department of Materials, University Center SENAI CIMATEC, Salvador, Brazil
Iwona Jasiuk
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA
Marc A. Meyers
Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, USA; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA; Department of Nanoengineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
Summary: Keratin is a highly multifunctional biopolymer serving various roles in nature due to its diverse material properties, wide spectrum of structural designs, and impressive performance. Keratin-based materials are mechanically robust, thermally insulating, lightweight, capable of undergoing reversible adhesion through van der Waals forces, and exhibit structural coloration and hydrophobic surfaces. Thus, they have become templates for bioinspired designs and have even been applied as a functional material for biomedical applications and environmentally sustainable fiber-reinforced composites. This review aims to highlight keratin's remarkable capabilities as a biological component, a source of design inspiration, and an engineering material. We conclude with future directions for the exploration of keratinous materials.
