Topic summary
Silk fibroin
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Fibroin.
Materials science
Although silk fibroin has been used for millennia in the textile industry, over the last 20 years, it has become very popular in materials science. This popularity stems from the discovery that silk fibroin (particularly from Bombyx mori) can be redissolved in chaotropic salt solutions such as calcium chloride or lithium bromide. This process yields an aqueous solution similar to the form found in the silkworm's gland, which can then be used to create various types of materials. These materials include films, sponges, hydrogels, scaffolds, membranes, and silk fiber paper, a paper-like sheet material produced using papermaking methods.