AIP Advances (Aug 2021)

Silk fibroin supraparticles created by the evaporation of colloidal Ouzo droplets

  • Ashley Lamb,
  • Fengjie He,
  • Shengjie Zhai,
  • Hui Zhao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0057228
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 8
pp. 085125 – 085125-5

Abstract

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Due to its high biocompatibility and biodegradability, supraparticles made from silk fibroin—produced from Bombyx mori (B. mori) cocoons—can find various applications in biomedical fields. The evaporation of Ouzo droplets by not requiring energy nor a surfactant is an environmentally friendly, easy, and cost-effective strategy to fabricate three-dimensional supraparticles, tackling the so-called “coffee ring effect” associated with droplet evaporation. Silk fibroins are dissolved into quaternary droplets, comprised of ultrapure water, ethanol, trans-anethole oil, and formic acid. The Ouzo droplet is able to form an oil ring that facilitates the droplet contraction to create a three-dimensional supraparticle. Using the Ouzo effect to fabricate these particles from silk fibroin results in consistent macro-porous structures with a high porosity.