Piezoresponse, Mechanical, and Electrical Characteristics of Synthetic Spider Silk Nanofibers
| dc.contributor.author | Shehata, Nader | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Kandas, Ishac | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Hassounah, Ibrahim | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Sobolčiak, Patrik | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Krupa, Igor | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Mrlik, Miroslav | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Popelka, Anton | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Steadman, Jesse | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Lewis, Randolph | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Electrical and Computer Engineering | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-08-22T14:57:17Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2018-08-22T14:57:17Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2018-08-01 | en |
| dc.date.updated | 2018-08-22T08:32:27Z | en |
| dc.description.abstract | This work presents electrospun nanofibers from synthetic spider silk protein, and their application as both a mechanical vibration and humidity sensor. Spider silk solution was synthesized from minor ampullate silk protein (MaSp) and then electrospun into nanofibers with a mean diameter of less than 100 nm. Then, mechanical vibrations were detected through piezoelectric characteristics analysis using a piezo force microscope and a dynamic mechanical analyzer with a voltage probe. The piezoelectric coefficient (<i>d</i><sub>33</sub>) was determined to be 3.62 pC/N. During humidity sensing, both mechanical and electric resistance properties of spider silk nanofibers were evaluated at varying high-level humidity, beyond a relative humidity of 70%. The mechanical characterizations of the nanofibers show promising results, with Young’s modulus and maximum strain of up to 4.32 MPa and 40.90%, respectively. One more interesting feature is the electric resistivity of the spider silk nanofibers, which were observed to be decaying with humidity over time, showing a cyclic effect in both the absence and presence of humidity due to the cyclic shrinkage/expansion of the protein chains. The synthesized nanocomposite can be useful for further biomedical applications, such as nerve cell regrowth and drug delivery. | en |
| dc.description.version | Published version | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | Shehata, N.; Kandas, I.; Hassounah, I.; Sobolčiak, P.; Krupa, I.; Mrlik, M.; Popelka, A.; Steadman, J.; Lewis, R. Piezoresponse, Mechanical, and Electrical Characteristics of Synthetic Spider Silk Nanofibers. Nanomaterials 2018, 8, 585. | en |
| dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.3390/nano8080585 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/84892 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | MDPI | en |
| dc.rights | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | spider silk | en |
| dc.subject | sensor | en |
| dc.subject | mechanical vibrations | en |
| dc.subject | humidity | en |
| dc.subject | piezoelectric | en |
| dc.subject | nanofibers | en |
| dc.title | Piezoresponse, Mechanical, and Electrical Characteristics of Synthetic Spider Silk Nanofibers | en |
| dc.title.serial | Nanomaterials | en |
| dc.type | Article - Refereed | en |
| dc.type.dcmitype | Text | en |