Abstract

Conjugated polyelectrolytes are demonstrated to permit facile staining of recombinant spider silk fibres. We find that the polyelectrolyte concentration and pH of the staining solution as well as the incubation temperature strongly influence the efficiency of this self-assembly process, which appears to be principally mediated through favourable electrostatic interactions. Thus, depending on the choice of staining conditions as well as the polyelectrolyte, electrically conductive or photoluminescent recombinant silk fibres could be produced. In addition, staining of natural Bombyx mori silk is established, which emphasises the versatility of the here advanced approach to functionalise silk-based materials.

Published in

Journal of Materials Chemistry
2011, Volume: 21, number: 9, pages: 2909-2915
Publisher: ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY

SLU Authors

• Jansson, Ronnie

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Askarieh, Glareh

  • Department of Molecular Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Rising, Anna

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Johansson, Jan

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Hedhammar, My

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Materials Chemistry


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c0jm03270k

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/58911