‘Spidey Silk’ – Spider-Man would be jealous!

When I read that scientists had created a real life “Spidey Silk”, I was curious to say the least. The new material was named that because it is both incredibly strong and equally flexible – just like the webs that Spider-Man shoots from his wrists. It sounds revolutionary in itself, but when you really understand everything that this material is capable of, you’ll get why I think the “Spidey Silk” reference does not do it justice.

Research scientists from Rice University, along with the Dutch firm Teijin Aramid, the US Air Force, and Israel’s Technion Institute announced that they have discovered a way to produce carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers that look and act like a piece of cotton thread but can conduct heat and electricity like a metal wire.

The light bulb in the photo is actually being powered by the two CNT threads that it hangs from! Can Spidey Silk conduct electricity in the same ball-park range as aluminium and copper? Other CNT fibers have been created in the past but none with the trifecta of properties: strength, flexibility, and electrical conductivity. One of the lead researchers from Rice University, Dr Matteo Pasquali, explained all the buzz:

“It’s exciting because it’s the first man-made material that actually has these high properties in terms of electrical and thermal conductivity and it’s also manufacturable on a large scale.”

Here at the British Consulate-General in Houston, we are no stranger to Dr Pasquali and other nanotechnology researchers like him. In 2010 our Science and Innovation team supported a year-long celebration of the 25th anniversary of the carbon-60 molecule and the birth of nanotechnology at Rice University in Houston, Texas. We also supported a workshop with the International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON) that resulted in a US-UK consortia called NanoBee whose goal was to evaluate the effects of nanotechnology on the environment and the proper risk management that should be involved. The NanoBee Consortia went on to receive part of an $11 million grant jointly funded by the EPA and NERC.

So, what can we do with this new material? Dr Pasquali said that one of the immediate end-users for the technology will be the aerospace industry. The carbon nanotubes that the CNT fibers are made of are 100 times stronger than steel and only one sixth of the weight which makes them ideal for flight of any kind. As the means of production becomes more common and the technology less expensive, we can expect to see them in everyday life. A shirt could be imbedded with these fibers giving it a variety of capabilities – think of a really cool cybernetics suit from any SciFi show. In the medical field, they are imagining even more revolutionary applications – biocapsules which could be inserted into the body and then report illnesses before the symptoms appear and even conduct treatment or internal repair themselves. The high thermal capacity also means that, this material could potentially be used as a high quality power transmission line – something that could solve the problem of abundant renewable energy sources not being located near the people that use it, such as wind energy. A better quality transmission line means more capability to transport across long distances. Only time will tell the full effect of this apparently limitless material.

Although I find the Spidey Silk pseudonym lacking, with a discovery like this it’s easy to see why nanotechnology has been a centre of focus for the UK. The development of these CNT fibers will affect future research and industries that extend well beyond the field of nanotechnology and it is precisely this type of all encompassing innovation that the UK has made a commitment to.