Electrospinner: Silk fibroin multi-sensory highly biomimetic skin

Background

Functions of human skin: Human skin has complex mechanoreceptors that can sense low-, medium- and high-frequency mechanical stimuli, which is essential for realizing highly realistic robots, mimicking the materials and functions of human skin.

Research objectives: Professor Guo Wenxi's team proposed a full-protein silk bionic skin (SFBS) that simulates fast adaptation (FA) and slow adaptation (SA) receptors to achieve high sensitivity perception of mechanical stimuli.

Design and preparation of silk bionic skin (SFBS)

Structural composition: SFBS consists of a membrane-hydrogel mixture and a dual-mode tactile sensor to simulate the epidermis and dermis.

Material properties: SFBS prepared by mesoscopic reconstruction engineering consists of an elastic SF hydrogel (SFH) and a three-layer SF-glycerol membrane (SFGF) to simulate the epidermis and dermis.

Biocompatibility: SFH and SFGF show good biocompatibility and implantation potential, and are suitable as skin substitutes and skin for intelligent robots.

Performance testing and application

High-sensitivity sensing: SFBS exhibits high-sensitivity (1.083 kPa⁻¹) static pressure sensing performance, which can distinguish materials and sliding, and identify subtle morphological differences between objects.

High-frequency vibration perception: SFBS can sense high-frequency vibrations of 50-400 Hz, distinguish the vibration waveforms of different songs, and even identify the vibration waveforms of different animals' sounds.

Texture perception and material identification: SFBS-FA sensors can achieve spatial and temporal sensing through surface level scanning, detect surface roughness, and identify different materials.

Rehabilitation glove application: Rehabilitation gloves with integrated SFBS can help stroke patients regain sensory feedback and accelerate the recovery of finger perception and movement.

The connection between electrospinning technology and silk fibroin bionic skin (SFBS)

Biocompatibility and bioactivity of materials: Nanofiber membranes prepared by electrospinning technology show good biocompatibility and bioactivity in the biomedical field, especially in tissue engineering and drug controlled release. This echoes the biocompatibility characteristics of SFBS, which is also made of all-protein materials with good biocompatibility and can work in vivo.

High porosity and pore connectivity: The fibers prepared by electrospinning technology have high porosity and good pore connectivity, which can promote cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation. In the design of SFBS, the combination of SFGF and SFH simulates the epidermis and dermis of the skin, providing a similar microenvironment, which is conducive to cell interaction and integration

Conclusion and prospects

Practicality: SFBS provides a practical method for the development of skin substitutes, prostheses and intelligent robots.

Biocompatibility and self-powered: Due to the capacitive and triboelectric properties of protein materials, SFBS has high-precision pressure sensitivity and can work completely in vivo and self-powered.

Multisensory capabilities: SFBS can achieve vibration (50-400 Hz) and sliding sensing, realize sound detection and texture discrimination.

Material identification: SFBS can accurately identify 10 different materials with a classification accuracy of 99%.

Personalized healthcare: The tactile sensing capabilities of SFBS provide a potential platform for personalized healthcare, especially in stroke rehabilitation.

Electrospinning Nanofibers Article Source:

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.3c12525