1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, 101 Weill Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA;2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Science and Technology Center, 4 Colby St., Medford, MA 02155, USA;3. Department of Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, 1 University Avenue, Lowell, MA 01854, USA;4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tufts University, 204 Anderson Hall, 200 College Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA;5. Department of Ophthalmology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York City, NY 10065, USA;6. Margaret M. Dyson Vision Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10021, USA
Abstract:
Effects of hydration on silk fibroin film properties were investigated for water‐annealed and MeOH‐treated samples. Hydration increased thickness by 60% for MeOH‐immersed films, while water‐annealed samples remained constant. MeOH‐immersed films showed an 80% mass loss due to water, while water‐annealed lost only 40%. O2 permeability was higher in MeOH‐immersed films with Dk values of 10?10 (mL O2 · cm) · (cm?1 · s?1 · mmHg?1), while those of water‐annealed films reached only one fifth of this value. All films showed a decrease in Young's modulus and increased plastic deformation by two orders of magnitude when submerged in saline solution. FT‐IR showed that β‐sheet content in water‐annealed films increased with increasing water vapor pressure, while MeOH‐immersed films showed no change.
