In the present
study, the artificial spider silk polymer, 6mer ((SGRGGLGGQGAGAAAAAGGAGQGGYGGLGSQGT)
6, 16 kDa) [10], was utilized to
produce three different chimeras by fusing SiBPs A1, A3 and R5,
respectively, to the C-terminus, to investigate the effect of molecular
weight (MW) of silk domain in the fusion protein on the formation
of silk–silica composite particles at the solution–solution
interface. In addition, recombinant silk protein and chimeras were
fabricated into solid-state materials to investigate capacity and
morphology of silica condensation on their surfaces.