Nanoconfinement and the Strength of Biopolymers

Supplemental Material

Supplementary Data

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  Supplemental Figure 1. Elastic modulus and crystallinity of nylon-6,6 electrospun fibers as a function of the fiber diameter. (a) The relative elastic modulus compared to the bulk modulus E* increases dramatically at a critical diameter of approximately 500 nm. This behavior is explained by the role of spatial confinement on entropy and the dominance of intermolecular interactions in thin nanofibers. (b) The alignment of crystallites and the degree of crystallinity in the fiber also improve with a smaller diameter, leading to higher strength and toughness. Figure adapted from Reference 8.

  

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  Supplemental Figure 2. Effect of confinement on the toughness modulus in spider dragline silk MaSp1. Toughness modulus for tensile loading conditions (1) and (2), see Figure 8. By geometric confinement, the theoretical toughness modulus (190-200 MJ/m³) is approached which is in good agreement with experimental toughness moduli represented in the light-gray shaded area (110–350 MJ/m³). Figure adapted from Reference 47.