The processing and heterostructuring of silk with light

Abstract

Spider silk is a tough, elastic and lightweight biomaterial, although there is a lack of tools available for non-invasive processing of silk structures. Here we show that nonlinear multiphoton interactions of silk with few-cycle femtosecond pulses allow the processing and heterostructuring of the material in ambient air. Two qualitatively different responses, bulging by multiphoton absorption and plasma-assisted ablation, are observed for low- and high-peak intensities, respectively. Plasma ablation allows us to make localized nanocuts, microrods, nanotips and periodic patterns with minimal damage while preserving molecular structure. The bulging regime facilitates confined bending and microwelding of silk with materials such as metal, glass and Kevlar with strengths comparable to pristine silk. Moreover, analysis of Raman bands of microwelded joints reveals that the polypeptide backbone remains intact while perturbing its weak hydrogen bonds. Using this approach, we fabricate silk-based functional topological microstructures, such as Mobiüs strips, chiral helices and silk-based sensors.

Interplay between Light and Functionalized Silk Fibroin and Applications

“…There are two qualitatively different responses, i.e., bulging by multiphoton absorption and plasma-assisted ablation, for low-and high-peak intensities, respectively. Plasma ablation allows us to make localized nanocuts, microrods, nanotips, and periodic patterns with minimal damage when preserving the molecular structure, whereas bulging regime facilitates the confined bending and microwelding of silk with materials such as metal, glass, and Kevlar with strengths comparable to pristine silk (Sidhu et al, 2017).…”

Structural properties and their influence on the prey retention in the spider web

“…The spider silk thread is lightweight with high toughness and high elasticity which makes it a high strength material. The specific toughness of the spider silk provides spider safety and structural support of the web [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. The toughness of spider silk is three times higher than that of the aramid and other manufacturing fibres [10].…”

Flexible and Biocompatible Physical Unclonable Function Anti‐Counterfeiting Label

“…[33] Silk fibroin films have been widely used in various biological systems due to their excellent properties. [34,[38][39][40][41][42][43] Figure 2b shows the optical photographs of the silk fibroin solution and silk fibroin film, which were extracted from the silkworm via the method reported by D. N. Rockwood and X. Hu et. al.…”