News Materials Science

Spiders spin stronger threads with nanotubes

Carbon sprays lead to silk tougher than any other fiber

Spider

STRONG SPINNER   Spritzing spiders with graphene flakes or carbon nanotubes boosts silk strength and toughness.

Gucio_55/Shutterstock

By Meghan Rosen

- More than 2 years ago

Sorry, Kevlar. Spider silk loaded with carbon nanotubes may be the burliest fiber around.

When spritzed with the tiny tubes, spiders spin superstrong, supertough strands of silk. These hardy threads are the toughest fibers ever created, researchers report online April 25 at arXiv.org.