The development of bioinspired nanofibrous scaffolds with adjustable functions is essential for a range of applications, from tissue engineering to sustainable materials that exploit the hierarchical architectures of Bombyx mori silks. In this work, we report the production of organic−inorganic nanofibers by incorporating the organosilane (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) into silk fibroin using the solution blow spinning (SB-spinning) technique. The incorporation of APTES aims to modulate solution rheological properties, promote conformational transition to β-sheet-rich structures, and increase the thermal stability of the resulting nanofiber, making them more suitable for biomedical applications. Silk fibroin was isolated from B. mori cocoons, dissolved in a ternary CaCl2/EtOH/H2O solution, and hybridized with APTES before fiber production. The resulting nanofibers displayed smooth, uniform morphologies and nanoscale diameters, confirming the effectiveness of SB-spinning for creating hybrid systems. Rheological analyses showed that adding APTES reduced viscosity and enhanced the processability of fibroin solutions. Spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction data revealed an increased β-sheet content and crystallinity in the hybrid fibers, while thermogravimetric analysis indicated improved thermal stability. Overall, these results demonstrate that incorporating APTES effectively alters the physicochemical and structural properties of silk fibroin, enabling the production of promising nanofibrous scaffolds for biomedical applications. This study thus introduces an approach to engineering organic−inorganic hybrid biomaterials via a scalable, low-cost spinning process.
Sorigotti et al. (Fri,) studied this question.