![]() ![]() Should we really be feeding carbon freaking nanotubes to living creatures? If you want to see a disgusting photo of what happens when you inject carbon nanotubes into mice, click here. To me this research sounds like a small-scale Jurassic Park, where we're mucking about with nature in some very unnatural ways. The research was published in the materials science journal 2D Materials. Here we show that supercontraction, and in particular, silk bre softening, provides a simple and effective route of SS functionalisation with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), enabling use in. These are still early days, but our results are a proof of concept that paves the way to exploiting the naturally efficient spider spinning process to produce reinforced bionic silk fibres, thus further improving one of the most promising strong materials." Normal spider silk, by comparison, has a fracture strength of around 1.5 GPa and a toughness modulus of around 150 J/g." "This is the highest fibre toughness discovered to date, and a strength comparable to that of the strongest carbon fibres or limpet teeth. These can be provided by several approaches that include water-based 102 and dry-coating methods 103 or direct fiber reinforcing during spinning in spider 104 or electrospinning of. Professor Pugno said: "We found that the strongest silk the spiders spun had a fracture strength up to 5.4 gigapascals (GPa), and a toughness modulus up to 1,570 joules per gram (J/g). Noteworthy is the use of carbon nanotubes for fabricating tough but lightweight and flexible, multi-functional conductive spider silk hybrid fibers. So our study looked at whether spider silk's properties could be 'enhanced' by artificially incorporating various different nanomaterials into the silk's biological protein structures." To do this, the team exposed three different spider species to water dispersions containing carbon nanotubes or graphene. After collecting the spiders' silk, the team tested its tensile strength and toughness. It is among the best spun polymer fibres in terms of tensile strength, ultimate strain, and especially toughness, even when compared to synthetic fibres such as Kevlar." "We already know that there are biominerals present in in the protein matrices and hard tissues of insects, which gives them high strength and hardness in their jaws, mandibles and teeth, for example. According to, Professor Pugno said: "Humans have used silkworm silks widely for thousands of years, but recently research has focussed on spider silk, as it has extremely promising mechanical properties. Materials scientist Nicola Pugno and a research team at Italy's University of Trento have succeeded in getting spiders to produce super-strong silk-by lacing the spiders' drinking water with graphene and carbon nanotubes. They even built a heart monitor as a proof of the concept.Some of you will find this exciting. The researchers were able to make spiral coils, knots and even the letters “FSU” (for Florida State University) out of these coated wires. It remained extremely resilient and biodegradable. ![]() It also had a lifting strength 50 times stronger than muscle. This species is common in the southern regions of the US and famous for making very large webs … sometimes up to 3 feet across, that makes their silk easier to gather.Īfter being treated with carbon nanotubes, the silk was not only conductive, its threads were stronger than steel of the same size. The sleek threads were collected from the webs of golden silk spiders – ‘Nephila clavipes’. The researchers coated the spider silk fibers with dry carbon powder, which allowed the silk to carry a charge. ![]() In fact, spider silk is an extremely effective insulator. However, it’s not a conductor of electricity. Spider silk is super strong polymer that is extremely flexible and completely bio-degradable. PubMed journal article: Feeding Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes or Graphene to Silkworms for Reinforced Silk Fibers. This innovation could lead to eco-friendly electronics with biodegradable parts. This nanotubes-coated spider silk is tough and can stretch and shrink with humidity.Īlmost all modern electronic gadgets are made up of non-biodegradable components that ultimately end up in landfills causing harm to the environment. Scientists at Florida State University’s MagLab facility have successfully turned spider silk into microscopic wires that can conduct electricity. ![]()
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