Imagine shooting a web from your wrist like Spider-Man, using it to swing through the air or lift objects.
Researchers at Tufts University have turned that fantasy into a reality by creating the first-ever web-slinging technology.
This new innovation allows a fluid material to shoot from a needle, instantly solidify into a sticky fiber, and lift objects, just like the superhero’s iconic webs.
The breakthrough, developed by scientists at the Tufts University Silklab, was inspired by nature and comic book creativity.
Using silk proteins from moth cocoons, the team created a solution that solidifies into a fiber when exposed to air.
This silk-based fiber can be shot from a device and stick to objects, picking them up with remarkable strength.
The study was published in Advanced Functional Materials.
Silk is a natural material produced by many insects, such as spiders and moths. Spiders use silk to build webs, spin cocoons, and capture prey.
While scientists have worked with silk before, creating materials such as powerful underwater adhesives and sustainable microchip components, replicating the strength and flexibility of spider silk has been challenging.
A happy accident led to this web-slinging discovery. Marco Lo Presti, a research assistant professor at Tufts, was cleaning his glassware with acetone when he noticed a web-like material forming in the glass.
This unexpected result led the team to explore how silk could be solidified quickly into strong, sticky fibers.
The key to success was the use of dopamine, a chemical that accelerates the solidification process. When silk fibroin, the protein extracted from moth cocoons, was mixed with dopamine and acetone, the solution quickly formed strong, sticky fibers. Dopamine is known for its role in creating adhesives in nature, such as the sticky threads barnacles use to attach to surfaces.
The researchers then figured out how to shoot the fibers through a coaxial needle. As the silk solution is extruded, acetone evaporates in mid-air, leaving a solid fiber that can attach to any object it touches.
By adding chitosan, a compound from insect shells, they made the fibers even stronger, and with the help of a borate buffer, the fibers became 18 times more adhesive.
This new web-shooting device can lift objects more than 80 times its own weight. The team demonstrated its power by lifting various items, including a steel bolt, a floating lab tube, and a block of wood from 12 centimeters away.
Though natural spider silk is still much stronger, this technology brings us closer to creating practical, spider-like fibers for real-world use. According to Fiorenzo Omenetto, director of the Silklab, “As scientists and engineers, we navigate the boundary between imagination and practice. That’s where all the magic happens.”
Inspired by both nature and superhero comics, this web-slinging technology may lead to new possibilities in robotics, materials science, and beyond.
Source: Tufts University.
