ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the state-of-art technologies used for the development of bionanocomposites based on silk protein and clay in the preceding decades. Bionanocomposites are hybrid materials made of bioderived/natural polymer and inorganic biocompatible particulate nanofillers with tailormade synergistic properties. The multifunctional properties of silk/clay bionanocomposites make them suitable as advance biomaterials for bone regeneration and drug delivery. Silk/clay bionanocomposites are hybrid materials that have excellent mechanical, biological, optical, and gas barrier properties. Laponite is a synthetic smectite clay with a structure and composition closely resembling those of the natural clay mineral hectorite. Inorganic nanoclay lithium magnesium silicate hydrate is dissolved in deionized water. The spacing between clay platelets is an indicator of the extent of the intercalation/exfoliation of clay platelets within a polymer matrix and can be observed by using X-ray diffraction. Nanoclay would have a good dispersion in a polymer matrix if a relatively strong attractive interaction between polymer and clay sheets is introduced.
