Biodegradable and Biocompatible Polyvinyl alcohol/Silk Fibroin-Based Composite with Improved Strength

Silk fibroin (SF) with renewability, biocompatibility and biodegradability shows potential application in various fields including biomedicine, tissue engineering, and wearable electronic devices. Herein, SF is used to exert effective reinforcement of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite film to further improve its practicability. As such, PVA/SF composite films were prepared for the first time using a facile approach. The films were characterized to investigate possible interaction of PVA with SF. Meanwhile, systematic investigations have also been completed to explore the influences of PVA/SF mass ratio on the mechanical properties (tensile strength, elongation at break), biodegradability and biocompatibility, the morphology, crystallinity, chemical structure and thermostability. It is interesting to find that SF in the PVA/SF can remarkedly exert reinforcement efficacy and improve the mechanical properties, biodegradability and biocompatibility. Due to the reinforcement efficacy of SF, the tensile strength and elongation at break of the PVA/SF material are higher than that of neat PVA material by about 28% and 286%, respectively. Moreover, the materials are biodegradable and biocompatible. The simple and maneuverable approach as well as high-performance properties possessed by the materials will further broaden their practical application.