Scientists develop Spider-Man-inspired strong sticky fibre that can lift any object

Scientists have created a fluid which when shot from a gadget becomes a strongsticky fibre that can lift very heavy objects. The innovation has been inspired by the superheroSpider-Man.

Researchers have tried to create strong fibres which can be used as tethers. These fibres have been inspired by silk secreted by spiders, moths and other insects.

However, researchers at Tufts University have stated that they found it challenging to develop such fibres with the elasticity, stiffness and adhesive properties of spider silk.

The study, which was called a new "accidental breakthrough", was published in Advanced Functional Materials.

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“I was working on a project making extremely strong adhesives usingsilk fibroinand while I was cleaning my glassware with acetone, I noticed a web-like material forming on the bottom of the glass,” said study co-author Marco Lo Presti.

Here's how the adhesive was created

When the researchers initially tried to replicate spider threads, they saw that fibroin solutions created a semi-solid gel once it was exposed to chemicals like acetone or ethanol for several hours.

Using the chemical dopamine, the scientists were able to carry out a solidification process “almost immediately” to create high-tensile sticky fibres.

Scientists said that the dopamine mixture accelerated the transition of silk protein from liquid to solid by reducing water from it.

They also discovered that when a thin stream of the silk solution was surrounded by a layer of acetone and was shot through a special needle, it became a sticky solid.

After the evaporation of the acetone in the air, the fibre got attached to any kind of object it came in contact with.

Scientists said that when chitosan - a protein found in insect exoskeletons - was added to the fibres they became up to 200 times more tensile and the adhesiveness in chemicals like borate buffer increased by 18 times.

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With the help of the bore of the needle, scientists were able to control the diameter of the fibres which range from the width of a human hair to about half a millimetre.

Scientists said that the fibres shot this way are able to pick up objects more than 80 times their weight under different conditions.

They carried out various tests in which the fibres picked up a “steel bolt, a laboratory tube floating on water, a scalpel partially buried in sand and a wood block from a distance of about 12 centimetres”.

“This process can be finely tuned to achieve a controlled fabrication of instantaneously formed adhesive hydrogel fibres. It’s really a superhero-inspired material," Dr Lo Presti said.

(With inputs from agencies)