Web-slinging device shoots fibres that can pick up objects

Created at the Tufts University’s Silklab, the sticky fibres come from silk moth cocoons, which are boiled in solution and broken down into fibroin, which are their building block proteins. The team’s findings are detailed in Advanced Functional Materials.

The silk fibroin solution can be extruded through narrow bore needles to form a stream that solidifies into a fibre when exposed to air.

To date, Silklab has used silk fibroin to make glues that work underwater, printable sensors that can be applied to virtually any surface, edible coatings that can extend the shelf life of produce, a light-collecting material that could enhance the efficiency of solar cells, and more sustainable microchip manufacturing methods

Despite their progress with silk-based materials, the researchers had not been able to replicate the stiffness, elasticity, and adhesive properties of threads spun by spiders until a moment of serendipity.

“I was working on a project making extremely strong adhesives using silk fibroin, and while I was cleaning my glassware with acetone, I noticed a web-like material forming on the bottom of the glass,” Marco Lo Presti, a research assistant professor at Tufts, said in a statement.