Engineering with keratin: A functional material and a source of bioinspiration

Benjamin S Lazarus; Charul Chadha; Audrey Velasco-Hogan; Josiane D V Barbosa; Iwona Jasiuk; Marc A Meyers

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102798

Engineering with keratin: A functional material and a source of bioinspiration

iScience. 2021 Jun 29;24(8):102798. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102798. eCollection 2021 Aug 20.

Authors

Benjamin S Lazarus¹, Charul Chadha², Audrey Velasco-Hogan¹, Josiane D V Barbosa³, Iwona Jasiuk², Marc A Meyers^{1

4

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Affiliations

¹ Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, USA.
² Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
³ Department of Materials, University Center SENAI CIMATEC, Salvador, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Nanoengineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.

Abstract

Keratin is a highly multifunctional biopolymer serving various roles in nature due to its diverse material properties, wide spectrum of structural designs, and impressive performance. Keratin-based materials are mechanically robust, thermally insulating, lightweight, capable of undergoing reversible adhesion through van der Waals forces, and exhibit structural coloration and hydrophobic surfaces. Thus, they have become templates for bioinspired designs and have even been applied as a functional material for biomedical applications and environmentally sustainable fiber-reinforced composites. This review aims to highlight keratin's remarkable capabilities as a biological component, a source of design inspiration, and an engineering material. We conclude with future directions for the exploration of keratinous materials.

Keywords: Biomaterials; Engineering materials; Materials design.

Publication types

Review