Study on silk sericin and chitosan blend film: morphology and secondary structure characterizations.

This study aimed to prepare and characterize silk sericin and chitosan blend film as well as the native silk sericin and chitosan films. The films were observed their morphology using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The secondary structures of the films were analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Transparency of the films was investigated with UV-visible spectroscopy. The results found that all of silk films were smooth throughout the film surfaces, including blend film. This showed that silk sericin and chitosan very well compatible. However, phase separation is also being observed. It is show that the interaction between two materials might be miscible together. The FTIR results indicated that the most of films were composed both in random coil and beta-sheet forms which predominantly of the random coil structures. The results suggesting the blend film between sericin and chitosan did not change the intramolecular structure when compared to the native films. The silk sericin and blend films were slightly yellowish color and were higher transparent than chitosan film. However, % transmittance at lamda max of 660 nm showed that all of films have similar values. The result suggested that the transparency of the film did not change even blend together. It is a promising that both silk sericin and chitosan would be blended into many forms for applications in specifically fields.