Spider Silk Biomimetics Programs to Inform the Development of New Wearable Technologies

Abstract

Wearable fabrics are predominantly produced from synthetic polymer fibers derived from petrochemicals. These have negative effects on the natural environment as a consequence of the manufacturing process, insurmountable waste production, and persistence of the fibers in ecosystems. With the use of wearables worldwide set to increase exponentially, more environmentally friendly fibers are sought. Natural fibers such as spider silk are produced using proteins in a water solvent, yet they have many superior qualities to synthetic fibers. Moreover, spiders can tune their silk properties as their ecological circumstances demand it. Research focused on the biomimetic potential of spider silks with an eye on the development of smart wearable fibers is accordingly a potentially lucrative area of research. There are nonetheless major challenges associated, including recovering the original mechanical performance within the fibers developed, scaling up production, keeping the production costs of the silk building blocks to a minimum, elucidating, and understanding the different silk genome sequences, and creating precision artificial spinning processes. We outline herein a template for a working framework for a spider silk biomimetics program that can inform designers and biological researchers alike. It suggests that an objective-focused research program utilizing a cross-disciplinary toolbox of top-down and bottom-up techniques is required. We close by providing some speculative examples stemming from current activities in our laboratories.

Silk Fibroin as a Functional Biomaterial for Tissue Engineering

“…Compared to spiders, the yield of fibers obtained from one silkworm cocoon is around 10 fold that of the ampullate gland of a spider [ 36 , 42 ]. Although researchers have used a biomimetic spinning process to replicate spider silks, producing spider silk-like fibers with mechanical properties similar to natural spider silk fibers is challenging [ 43 ]. Andersson et al [ 44 ] designed a chimeric recombinant spider silk protein that can produce large quantities artificial spider silks via a bacterial shake-flask culture.…”

“…These include a large break strain (4–26%), ultimate strength (300–740 MPa) and toughness (70–78 MJ m −3 ) [ 70 ]. In addition, the reported toughness of SF fibers is higher than many synthetic fibers such as Kevlar (50 MJ m −3 ), carbon fiber (25 MJ m −3 ), and some collagens such as tendon collagen (7.5 MJ m −3 ) [ 43 , 71 ]. In addition, SF fibers exhibit the highest strength among common natural materials such as wool, resilin, elastin, byssus, and cotton, as well as some synthetic fibers such as synthetic rubber and viscose rayon [ 43 ].…”

“…In addition, the reported toughness of SF fibers is higher than many synthetic fibers such as Kevlar (50 MJ m −3 ), carbon fiber (25 MJ m −3 ), and some collagens such as tendon collagen (7.5 MJ m −3 ) [ 43 , 71 ]. In addition, SF fibers exhibit the highest strength among common natural materials such as wool, resilin, elastin, byssus, and cotton, as well as some synthetic fibers such as synthetic rubber and viscose rayon [ 43 ]. Considering these strong mechanical properties of SF, many researchers have used SF as a scaffold material for load-bearing TE applications, especially in musculoskeletal TE [ 1 ].…”

Recent Advances in Development of Functional Spider Silk-Based Hybrid Materials

“…Due to difficulties in simulating all the natural physiological and biochemical spinning processes in the laboratory, perfect replication of the natural spinning process is not currently possible (Blamires et al, 2012 ). These recent reviews expound on the subtleties and complexities of the bioengineering and biomimetics of spider silk (Andersson et al, 2016 ; Blamires et al, 2020 ).…”

Biomimetics Linked to Classical Product Development: An Interdisciplinary Endeavor to Develop a Technical Standard

“…In all three cases, a general biomimetic process description is required that is adaptable and applicable to specific research questions and development projects. Moreover, the biomimetic process still exhibits various challenges in theory, research, and practice [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. One of these challenges is the clear understanding of what needs to be done and how this can be achieved during the biomimetic process.…”