Development of a Simple and Efficient Method for the Micropatterning of Silk Fibroin

Microfabrication is a crucial tool for designing tissue scaffolds, biosensors, and implantable devices with complex, precisely defined shapes and surface topographies. Among all available techniques, photolithography is scalable and economical, and it produces micron-level resolution. Silk fibroin (SF), extracted from silk cocoons, has shown promise in wound healing and tissue repair applications due to its biocompatible, sustainable, and low-immunogenic nature. This study aimed to identify an optimal photolithography-based method for the microfabrication of silk fibroin (SF), which is scalable and reproducible. The study microfabricated the methacrylate SF (SFMA) patterns on silicon wafers and characterized their physicochemical, morphological, mechanical, cytotoxic, and biological properties. The microfabricated SFMA films exhibited a Young's modulus comparable to that of brain tissues (kPa). The morphological and mechanical characterization reveals enhanced mechanical properties, including good stretchability and surface properties. The cytotoxicity and morphological studies showed a minimal effect on cell viability with notable cell proliferation observed. The biodegradability results show that the cross-linked SF has improved stability. This study demonstrated a simple, room-temperature photolithography method to create microscale features of the SFMA, which demonstrated improved mechanical, surface morphological, biological, and degradation properties.