3D Conformal Modification of Electrospun Silk Nanofibers with Nanoscaled ZnO Deposition for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

Nanostructured metal oxide materials have drawn great attention because of their enhanced semiconducting, electrical, optical, sensing, and chemical catalyzing properties. The application of metal oxides in biomedicine has recently emerged as a promising field, especially in the format of organic/metal oxide composites. However, the existing methods for fabricating organic/metal oxide materials revealed limitations on the precise control over the deposition of metal oxides and the maintenance of organic nanostructures. Here, we developed an approach for the fabrication of composite materials by depositing metal oxides on the nanostructured organic templates through atomic layer deposition (ALD). With this method, we fabricated a series of silk fibroin/ZnO composites at varied deposition temperatures. The results demonstrated that the ZnO layer had a 3D conformality and hexagonal wurtzite structure, and the deposition thickness was well controlled. The photocatalytic activity of silk/ZnO composites was confirmed by the photodegradation of Rh B under UV exposure, and the efficiency was found to be temperature dependent. These results demonstrated the successful integration of organic materials with metal oxides through an easy and controllable approach for the development of multifunctional organic/metal oxide biomaterials.