CAREER: Exploring the Recluse Spider's Strong Nanometer-Thin Silk Ribbons

职业：探索隐士蜘蛛强大的纳米薄丝带

• 批准号: 1352542
• 负责人: Hannes Schniepp
• 金额: $ 45万
• 依托单位: College of William and Mary
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-15 至 2020-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1352542&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Exploring; Recluse; Spider; Strong

Non-technical AbstractThis CAREER award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to College of William and Mary is to investigate ribbon-like silk fiber of the brown recluse spider with respect to its hierarchical structure, and mechanical and adhesive properties, as well as its ability to form even stronger hybrid graphene-nanocomposite materials. Spider silks have outstanding strength and toughness; at the same time, they are naturally produced in a fully sustainable way, not using petroleum, large amounts of energy, or any toxic materials. As natural materials, they are also interesting for medical applications, such as implants. This combination of properties makes silks highly interesting as high performance materials. In this project, the investigator will study the silk of the brown recluse spider, which has a unique shape. In contrast to the other silk fibers, the filaments of the recluse are not cylindrical, but extremely flat and thin ribbons, resembling miniaturized pieces of sticky tape - ten times narrower and one thousand times thinner than a human hair. Previous studies by this researcher have shown that these ribbons share the outstanding mechanical properties with the best spider silks; at the same time, their unique shape gives rise to interesting new behavior, such as enhanced adhesion, and it allows the application of powerful analytical tools. Therefore, this project is expected to further our understanding of silks and their microstructure in general, and will reveal some of the unique properties of recluse silk in detail, such as their stickiness, and strength. This knowledge is a direct precursor to exploiting this exciting material for future engineering and biomedical applications. This project plans to provide participation and learning experiences for students from high school to graduate levels.Technical AbstractThis CAREER award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to College of William and Mary is to investigate ribbon-like silk fiber of the brown recluse spider with respect to its hierarchical structure, and mechanical and adhesive properties, as well as its ability to form even stronger hybrid graphene-nanocomposite materials. Unlike many other synthetic or natural polymers, these silk fibers are freestanding, 50 nm-thin and 5 ìm-wide protein ribbons. Previous studies by this researcher showed that the tensile performance rivals the strongest silks; at the same time, their unique morphology gives rise to novel properties and allows high-resolution structural characterization using atomic force microscopy. The structure of the recluse ribbons is simpler than other silks; a thin silk film with such outstanding strength is a novelty. Due to their thinness, these silk ribbons bend easily, which allows them to maximize the contact area with surfaces or objects they are in contact, enabling stronger van der Waals adhesion. The stickiness may further be enhanced by the nano-papillae, globular nanoscale surface features, and these features have not been observed in any other silks. The recluse ribbons would thus serve as a model system to improve our understanding of silks in general, and as a benchmark for biomedical silk films. The educational plan of this project is to provide research experiences to undergraduates from several disciplines; and special activities are planned to reach out to high school students. The research will be featured in new undergraduate and graduate classes making use of inverted learning techniques and digital technology.

非技术摘要威廉和玛丽学院材料研究部的生物材料项目授予的这个职业奖是为了研究棕色隐士蜘蛛的带状丝纤维的层次结构，机械和粘合性能，以及它形成更强的混合石墨烯纳米复合材料的能力。蜘蛛丝具有出色的强度和韧性;同时，它们是以完全可持续的方式自然生产的，不使用石油，大量能源或任何有毒材料。作为天然材料，它们对于医学应用也很有意义，例如植入物。这种特性的组合使得丝绸作为高性能材料非常有趣。在这个项目中，研究人员将研究棕色隐士蜘蛛的丝，它具有独特的形状。与其他丝纤维不同的是，隐士的丝不是圆柱形的，而是非常扁平和薄的丝带，类似于微型胶带-比人类头发细十倍，细一千倍。该研究人员先前的研究表明，这些丝带与最好的蜘蛛丝具有出色的机械性能;同时，它们独特的形状产生了有趣的新行为，例如增强的粘附力，并且它允许应用强大的分析工具。因此，该项目有望进一步加深我们对丝绸及其微观结构的理解，并将详细揭示隐士丝绸的一些独特特性，如粘性和强度。这些知识是开发这种令人兴奋的材料用于未来工程和生物医学应用的直接先驱。技术摘要威廉和玛丽学院材料研究部生物材料项目的CAREER奖是为了研究棕色隐士蜘蛛的带状丝纤维的层次结构、机械和粘合性能，以及其形成甚至更强的杂化石墨烯-纳米复合材料的能力。 与许多其他合成或天然聚合物不同，这些丝纤维是独立的，50 nm薄，5 μ m宽的蛋白质带。该研究人员先前的研究表明，拉伸性能与最强的丝绸相媲美;同时，它们独特的形态产生了新的特性，并允许使用原子力显微镜进行高分辨率的结构表征。隐士丝带的结构比其他丝绸简单，一层薄薄的丝膜具有如此突出的强度是一种新奇。由于它们的薄，这些丝带很容易弯曲，这使得它们能够最大化与它们所接触的表面或物体的接触面积，从而实现更强的货车德瓦尔斯粘附。粘性可以通过纳米乳头、球状纳米级表面特征进一步增强，并且这些特征在任何其他丝中尚未观察到。因此，隐士丝带将作为一个模型系统，以提高我们对一般丝绸的理解，并作为生物医学丝绸薄膜的基准。该项目的教育计划是向几个学科的本科生提供研究经验;并计划开展特别活动，以接触高中生。该研究将在新的本科生和研究生课程中使用反向学习技术和数字技术。

项目成果

Multi‐Point Nanoindentation Method to Determine Mechanical Anisotropy in Nanofibrillar Thin Films

多点纳米压痕法测定纳米纤丝薄膜的机械各向异性

• DOI: 10.1002/smll.202202065
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Small
• 影响因子: 13.3
• 作者: Perera, Dinidu;Wang, Qijue;Schniepp, Hannes C.
• 通讯作者: Schniepp, Hannes C.

Silk Protein Paper with In Situ Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles

原位合成银纳米颗粒的丝蛋白纸

• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202000357
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Macromolecular Bioscience
• 影响因子: 4.6
• 作者: Liang, Yujia;Tang, Bin;Sharma, Aarushi;Perera, Dinidu;Allardyce, Benjamin James;Ghosh, Sourabh;Schniepp, Hannes C.;Rajkhowa, Rangam
• 通讯作者: Rajkhowa, Rangam