Spinning of Reinforced and UV ‐Resistant Silk by High Uptake of Nano‐ SiO ₂ for Silkworm

ABSTRACT Feeding Bombyx mori ( B. mori ) larvae with incorporated diets for producing the modified silk is an effective and commonly used method. In this study, based on the excellent UV‐resistant property and non‐toxicity of nano‐SiO ₂ , an incorporated diet with a high concentration of nano‐SiO ₂ (up to 4%) was used to feed two commercial strains of B. mori (XF × QB and 871B) for preparing modified silk. The incorporated nano‐SiO ₂ did not affect the growth, spinning, and cocooning of these silkworms. The modified silk contained a high content of nano‐SiO ₂ , up to 869.70 mg/kg, obtained for XF × QB, and the maximum stress could increase to 468.38 MPa. Meanwhile, a higher improvement of strain was achieved for 871B, which reached up to 25.41%. Most importantly, the modified silk fibers exhibited the excellent ultraviolet (UV) resistant property; their stress could be well maintained after exposure to 300 MJ/m ² UV energy. In addition, nano‐SiO ₂ modified silk exhibited good thermostability and biocompatibility. These results illustrate that the modified silk with improved mechanical and excellent UV resistance can be produced by feeding silkworms with a high concentration of nano‐SiO ₂ , and this modified silk likely has a wider application in the future. And also, the merits of environmental protection, low cost, and high efficiency for this method provide a huge commercial prospect for sericulture.