In our willingness to find alternatives to plastic, bioplastics have been emerging from various researches and studies over the past few years. This is in order to address how the traditional petroleum-based plastics are harming the environment, which grows more apparent every day. As opposed to the traditional product, bioplastics are biodegradable so they will not accumulate in the environment-an obvious reason why researchers strive to look for ways to manufacture the material.
In a recent publication in Science Advances, engineers and scientists have, once again, been inspired by nature, with the idea that certain proteins, like those found in spider webs, could enhance the functionality of bioplastic materials. The researchers from Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Center of Finland used synthetic spider silk and cellulose from wood. And although one might think that spider silk is not the most durable material, it has, on the contrary, already proven its strength and toughness.
The researchers first copied the properties of natural spider silk protein using bacteria with synthetic DNA. This synthetic protein was then bonded with wood cellulose, forming a composite material. They claim that this bio-based composite could be utilized in the medical field, and the more evident textile and packaging industry.
Research scientists from VTT, Pezhman Mohammadi, gave a few details on their research. "We used birch tree pulp, broke it down to cellulose nanofibrils and aligned them into a stiff scaffold," he said. "At the same time, we infiltrated the cellulosic network with a soft and energy dissipating spider silk adhesive matrix."
Lead researcher from Aalto University, Markus Linder, then explained the biological side of the process. "Because we know the structure of the DNA, we can copy it and use this to manufacture silk protein molecules which are chemically similar to those found in spider web threads," he said. "The DNA has all this information contained in it."
Mohammadi also discussed how a similar approach could be used to work on new bio-based composite materials for other applications. "Our work illustrates the new and versatile possibilities of protein engineering," he said. "In [the] future, we could manufacture similar composites with slightly different building blocks and achieve a different set of characteristics for other applications. Currently we are working on making new composite materials as implants, impact resistance objects, and other products."
