| Literature DB >> 33166360 |
Sean P Kelly1, Kun-Ping Huang2, Chen-Pan Liao3, Riza Ariyani Nur Khasanah4, Forest Shih-Sen Chien4, Jwu-Sheng Hu2, Chung-Lin Wu5, I-Min Tso1.
Abstract
The dragline silk of spiders is of particular interest to science due to its unique properties that make it an exceptional biomaterial that has both high tensile strength and elasticity. To improve these natural fibers, researchers have begun to try infusing metals and carbon nanomaterials to improve mechanical properties of spider silk. The objective of this study was to incorporate carbon nanomaterials into the silk of an orb-weaving spider, Nephila pilipes, by feeding them solutions containing graphene and carbon nanotubes. Spiders were collected from the field and in the lab were fed solutions by pipette containing either graphene sheets or nanotubes. Major ampullate silk was collected and a tensile tester was used to determine mechanical properties for pre- and post-treatment samples. Raman spectroscopy was then used to test for the presence of nanomaterials in silk samples. There was no apparent incorporation of carbon nanomaterials in the silk fibers that could be detected with Raman spectroscopy and there were no significant improvements in mechanical properties. This study represents an example for the importance of attempting to replicate previously published research. Researchers should be encouraged to continue to do these types of investigations in order to build a strong consensus and solid foundation for how to go forward with these new methods for creating novel biomaterials.Entities:
Year: 2020 PMID: 33166360 PMCID: PMC7652353 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241829
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Morphological data for spiders in each treatment group for the three experiments.
| Treatment Group | carapace width (cm) | body length (cm) | mass (g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control (N = 12) | 0.79 ± 0.15 | 3.52 ± 0.64 | 2.02 ± 1.27 |
| MPT (N = 12) | 0.86 ± 0.13 | 3.63 ± 0.45 | 1.96 ± 1.02 |
| RPS (N = 12) | 0.79 ± 0.17 | 3.36 ± 0.63 | 1.71 ± 0.79 |
| Control (N = 6) | 1.11 ± 0.10 | 4.77 ± 0.31 | 4.78 ± 2.23 |
| CT (N = 6) | 1.12 ± 0.08 | 5.08 ± 0.28 | 5.21 ± 1.26 |
| T (N = 6) | 1.05 ± 0.19 | 4.53 ± 0.57 | 4.52 ± 2.11 |
| Control (N = 14) | 0.92 ± 0.16 | 3.85 ± 0.45 | 2.08 ± 0.77 |
| CT (N = 14) | 0.97 ± 0.10 | 3.96 ± 0.34 | 2.14 ± 0.63 |
| MPT (N = 14) | 0.96 ± 0.08 | 3.94 ± 0.34 | 2.18 ± 0.61 |
Average (mean ± 1 SD) values for body measurements of N. pilipes assigned to three treatment groups for each of the three experiments: (1) GS-Graphene Sheets, (2) SWNT-Single Walled Nanotubes and (3) 2x-Double Concentration.
Fig 1Mechanical properties of GS-Graphene Sheets (A-D), SWNT-Single-Walled Nanotubes (E-H) and 2x- Double Concentrations (I-L). Two empty symbols inked together indicates the empirical averages by individual spiders. Solid symbols and thick lines indicate the posterior means and their 95% highest density intervals. In each panel, significant differences between each of the 95% density intervals is represented by groups that do not share letters. Significant differences determined from multiple comparisons (S1 to S3 Tables).
Fig 3Raman spectroscopy analysis of silk samples and GS (MPT and RPS) and SWNT (CT and T) powders from the three rounds of experiments.
1) GS-Graphene Sheets (A, B), SWNT-Single-Walled Nanotubes (D, E) and 2x-Double Concentration (C, F).
Fig 2Percent change in mechanical properties (Young’s Modulus, Ultimate Strength, Extensibility and Toughness) between pre-treatment and post-treatment silk samples from the three rounds of experiments: GS-Graphene Sheets (A-D), SWNT-Single-Walled Nanotubes (E-H) and 2x- Double Concentrations (I-L). An empty circle indicates the average change percentage of an individual. Solid Circles and whiskers indicates the posterior means and their 95% highest density intervals. In each panel, significant differences between each of the 95% density intervals is represented by groups that do not share letters. Significant differences were determined from multiple comparisons (S4 to S6 Tables).