Preparation of porous poly(vinyl alcohol)-silk fibroin (PVA/SF) blend membranes

The relation of PVA/SF blending ratio and freezing temperature with the morphology, fine structure and properties of porous PVA/SF blend membranes prepared by means of freeze drying was investigated. It was indicated that the pore diameter of the blend membranes remarkably decreased and the pore density obviously increased with increasing proportion of PVA or decreasing freezing temperature. With increasing proportion of PVA, the crystallinity of the blend membrane increased. When the blend ratio of PVA/SF was larger than 25/75 or 50/50, the strength, the elongation and the initial tensile modulus of the blend membrane increased somewhat and the compressibility decreased a little with increasing proportion of PVA or decreasing freezing temperature. Therefore, by increasing the proportion of PVA or decreasing the freezing temperature, porous SF/PVA blend membranes could be prepared which had smaller pore diameter, larger pore density, higher crystallinity, strength and elongation.