The Effect of Dissolution Condition on the Yield, Molecular Weight, and Wet- and Electro-spinnability of Regenerated Silk Fibroins Prepared by LiBr Aqueous Solution

In this paper, the regenerated silk fibroins were dissolved in LiBr aqueous solution with different dissolution temperature and time, and the effects of the dissolution condition on the regeneration yield, molecular weight, wet spinnability, and electrospinnability of regenerated silk fibroin were investigated. The regeneration yield, molecular weight distribution, and wet spinnability of regenerated silk fibroin were nearly affected by the dissolution temperature and time. However, the electrospinning performance of silk fibroin was influenced by the dissolution condition implying the electrospinning of silk fibroin is more sensitive process than the wet spinning in the range tested in this study. While $25^{\circ}C$ of dissolution temperature resulted in a good electrospinnability of regenerated silk fibroin, the electrospinnability was slightly deteriorated when silk fibroin was dissolved at $60^{\circ}C$ for 6 hours. Also, though the fiber diameters of electrospun silk fibroin produced by the dissolution at $25^{\circ}C$ for 6 hours and 24 hours were 443 and 451 nm, respectively, that at $60^{\circ}C$ for 5 min was reduced to 411 nm. The fiber diameter was more decreased to 393 nm when the dissolution time increased up to 6 hours at $60^{\circ}C$.