Hierarchical materials from fused silk

Abstract Silk is an extraordinary natural material whose unique chemistry and hierarchical organization enable performance beyond that of many synthetic counterparts. However, its poor processability arising from the molecular folding patterns of fibroin makes fabricating shapes other than fibres conceptually challenging. Here we report a simple and rapid thermomechanical process to fuse silk fibres into solid materials of arbitrary shapes. This approach avoids silk dissolution and subsequent regeneration – processes typically associated with a substantial environmental footprint due to extensive solvent use. The resulting fused silk exhibits remarkable mechanical properties (flexural strength up to 510 MPa, tensile toughness up to 45 MJ m −3 ), optical transparency in the visible range, pronounced optical activity in the terahertz range with large polarization rotation and processing-dependent biocompatibility and biodegradability. The molecular organization of fused silk emerges from interdiffusion of the naturally present amorphous phase, generating strong intrafibre and interfibre molecular bonds without damaging the original hierarchical organization and the crystalline regions. This direct conversion of natural silk fibres into structural and optically active materials enhances the prospects for scalable production and real-world deployment.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Sustainability
Published
2026-05-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-026-01821-y
Primary Topic
Silk-based biomaterials and applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Hierarchical materials from fused silk

Jens Najorka, Wei Tan, Christine Radtke, W Wang et al.
Nature Sustainability
Silk-based biomaterials and applications
article

Hierarchical materials from fused silk

Jens Najorka, Wei Tan, Christine Radtke, W Wang, Xitao Yu, Bumchul Park, Sarah Stadlmayr, Dimitrios G. Papageorgiou, Glenn Leung, Emiliano Bilotti, Nicholas A. Kotov, Sang Hyun Lee, John Kim, Qichen Zhou, Silvestre Pinho, Chongyang Zeng, Yushu Wang, Han Zhang, David L. Kaplan, Xiaofeng Wang, Chunmei Li, Brooke Longo
article en

Abstract

Abstract Silk is an extraordinary natural material whose unique chemistry and hierarchical organization enable performance beyond that of many synthetic counterparts. However, its poor processability arising from the molecular folding patterns of fibroin makes fabricating shapes other than fibres conceptually challenging. Here we report a simple and rapid thermomechanical process to fuse silk fibres into solid materials of arbitrary shapes. This approach avoids silk dissolution and subsequent regeneration – processes typically associated with a substantial environmental footprint due to extensive solvent use. The resulting fused silk exhibits remarkable mechanical properties (flexural strength up to 510 MPa, tensile toughness up to 45 MJ m −3 ), optical transparency in the visible range, pronounced optical activity in the terahertz range with large polarization rotation and processing-dependent biocompatibility and biodegradability. The molecular organization of fused silk emerges from interdiffusion of the naturally present amorphous phase, generating strong intrafibre and interfibre molecular bonds without damaging the original hierarchical organization and the crystalline regions. This direct conversion of natural silk fibres into structural and optically active materials enhances the prospects for scalable production and real-world deployment.

Nature Sustainability
Tufts University (US), Natural History Museum (GB), Queen Mary University of London (GB), Korea University (KR), University of Michigan (US), Zhengzhou University (CN), University of Warwick (GB), BioSurfaces (United States) (US), Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living (US), Xiangtan University (CN), Imperial College London (GB), Medical University of Vienna (AT)
National Science Foundation, UK Research and Innovation, Austrian Science Fund, China Scholarship Council, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems, Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Silk-based biomaterials and applications
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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