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• Keratin films were reinforced by interfacially-compatible nano-cysteine particles. • Cysteine particles with smaller sizes showed better reinforcing effects. • The keratin composite films were tough, pliant and stable in high humidity. • Keratin composite films demonstrated good biocompatibility in vitro study. Keratin films with wet stability and strength suitable for biomedical applications were developed via reinforcement with submicron cysteine particles for improved interfaces. Keratin products regenerated from wool or human hair were widely investigated as wound dressing and tissue engineering scaffolds for their satisfactory biomedical properties. However, regenerated keratin scaffolds usually did not have good mechanical properties, and also could not stand humid or wet biological environment due to poor moisture stability. Reinforcements for keratin materials were usually polysaccharides or synthetic polymers, and thus usually had non-ideal interfacial properties due to limited compatibility. In this research, submicron cystine particles were employed to reinforce keratin films for their high compatibility with keratin and bio-safety. Transition of primary and secondary structures of keratin due to matrix-reinforcement interaction was analyzed. The keratin films showed unprecedented pliancy, good tensile properties under humid conditions and biocompatibility, and thus had good potential for biomedical engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wool powders with low solubility could be easily prepared from wool fibers by combining hydrothermal pretreatment (HTP) and grinding processes. Transforming wool fibers into powders was the first step of exploiting wool as new materials such as bio-thermoplastics. However, wool fibers were difficult to be prepared into powders only by grinding due to their toughness. This article used a chemical-free method to obtain wool powders by grinding HTP-treated wool fibers. Wool fibers after HTP at 130°C for 40 min or above were obviously easier to be broken into snippets with lengths of 25-150 μm after grinding for 1 min and shapeless super-fine powders with diameters of 3-15 μm after ball milling for 10 min. Wool fibers after HTP were brittle mainly owing to decrease of α-helices and SS bonds. Combination of HTP and grinding could be an eco-friendly and feasible treatment to prepare wool powders on industrial scale. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40173. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]