The headline sounds a li’l weird but ‘tis true. Electronic wastes and environmental pollution have created demands for innovative solutions. Eco-friendly electronic designs have come to the forefront to combat the problem created by the non-biodegradable plastics. But toxicity again posed a problem. Therefore, the assimilation of natural elements in these designs became mandatory to do away with the poisonous materials. Hence, Scientists at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Fla are trying to make it a reality. They have come up with a conclusion, which asserts that spider silk is ten times tougher than Kevlar and is as stretchy as human muscles.
In an experiment, they mixed the silk fibers with powered carbon nanotubes and added a few drops of water so that they could rub it together. After the blend dried, the fibers drew together and soaked up a coating of nanotubes uniformly around themselves.
Researchers were able to compound easy and effective water based and shear-assisted method of fabricating tough, versatile, flexible and multi-functional SS fibres. The resultant ‘hybrid’ material formed is electrically conductive, even by stretching 50 percent more and is three times stronger than the regular silk fibers.
The breakthrough fiber can be applied in two all together different fields, first, it can be used in electric circuits and second, it can function as an artificial muscle.
After robo weapons now we would be facing up with spider nano bots, sounds interesting, but still I hate spi-e-ders (Megamind’s way).
Image Credit: Nature
