Developing silica based Nanocomposites for dental applications using bombyx mori silk
A significant amount of research is being carried out on natural Bombyx mori (BM) silk which has gained remarkable popularity for biomedical applications in recent years. The main objective of this thesis is concerned with the development of a new silk based material with improved properties for dental tissue repair and dentin regeneration. In the first phase, research was carried out to study the chemistry and kinetics of silica formation and to assess the effects of silk proteins on the mechanical and functional properties of nanocomposite materials. A novel method was developed to separate different silk fractions (heavy chain fibroin and light chain fibroin) from natural silk using formic acid. Silk and its fractions were regenerated for use in gelation studies and fabricating nanocomposites by adding silica. The silica was added using, hydrolysed tetraethoxy silane (TEOS) to condense into gelling silk solutions or by adding pre-condensed silica nanoparticles (14-350 nm), prepared using a modified Stbber method. Silk solutions were characterised using viscometery, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).
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