"We are demonstrating a way to shoot a fiber from a device, then adhere to and pick up an object from a distance," Lo Presti, a biomedical engineering researcher at Tufts University, said in a statement. "Rather than presenting this work as a bio-inspired material, it's really a superhero-inspired material."
"I was working on a project making extremely strong adhesives using silk fibroin, and while I was cleaning my glassware with acetone, I noticed a web-like material forming on the bottom of the glass," Lo Presti said in the statement.
This device can do one thing that most arachnids can't: shoot their web, according to study coauthor Marco Lo Presti, showcasing a novel way of approaching adhesive technology.
The combination of acetone and dopamine not only accelerates the solidification process, transforming the time from hours to almost instantly, but also enhances the adhesive properties of the silk fibroin.
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