Spiders and

Nanotechnology
Nick Holmquist

The Objective
Scientist, Nicola Pugno, wanted to take nature

and make it better

Wanted to see if he could make spider webs
stronger than they are currently

Whats been discovered

Spray spiders with water

mixed with flakes of

nanotubes and graphene
Created worlds toughest
known fiber
Normal spider web has a
matching toughness of
Kevlar vs. off-the chart
measurements in fracture
strength, Youngs
modulus, and toughness
modulus found in the new
fiber

The Future of this Research

A Few Roadblocks
Spiders would die shortly after spinning a web
No real way to harvest the webs
How to manufacture on industrial scale
Uses
Bionic material
Practical uses: Safety vests, safety nets,
clothes, and tissue repair

Sources
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/537301/

spiders-ingest-nanotubes-then-weave-silk-rei
nforced-with-carbon/
http://www.sciencealert.com/spiders-sprayed-

with-nanotubes-go-on-to-weave-the-toughest-f
ibre-ever-measured
http://arxiv.org/find/cond-mat/1/au:+Pugno_N/0

/1/0/all/0/1
http://www.ing.unitn.it/~pugno/