Fig. 1: SNF assembly and graphene plasmon-enhanced FTIR.
From: In-situ observation of silk nanofibril assembly via graphene plasmonic infrared sensor
a Schematic diagram of speculative SNF assembly mechanism: Unfolded SF molecules first undergo a conformational change, forming β-sheet-rich oligomers; these oligomers then connect with nearby molecules and elongate into short-rod-like SNFs, with the β-sheet chains aligned along the elongation direction (indicated by gray dashed arrow). Finally, these short SNFs further align and elongate, becoming thicker and longer to form long-rod-like SNFs. b Schematic diagram of graphene plasmon-enhanced FTIR for measuring SNF assembly (left panel) and a typical AFM of SNF adsorbed on the graphene nanoribbons (right panel). c The extinction spectra of graphene plasmon with (red curve) and without SNFs (black dashed curve). \({T}_{{V}_{G}}\) is measured when VG is −100 V, while \({T}_{0}\) is measured when VG is 100 V. The black curve is extinction spectrum of bulk SNF film which is reduced by 10 times for comparing. The assembly process occurs in an aqueous solution at 348 K, with a duration of 300 min.
