By controlling silk protein nanostructure for the first time, scientists at PNNL pave the way for advanced microelectronic and computing applications
By Karyn Hede, PNNL, September 18, 2024
RICHLAND, Wash.—After thousands of years as a highly valuable commodity, silk continues to surprise. Now it may help usher in a whole new direction for microelectronics and computing.
While silk protein has been deployed in designer electronics, its use is currently limited in part because silk fibers are a messy tangle of spaghetti-like strands.
Now, a research team led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has tamed the tangle. They report in the journal Science Advances that they have achieved a uniform two-dimensional (2D) layer of silk protein fragments, or “fibroins,” on graphene, a carbon-based material useful for its excellent electrical conductivity.
“These results provide a reproducible method for silk protein self-assembly that is essential for designing and fabricating silk-based electronics,” said Chenyang Shi, the study’s lead author. “It’s important to note that this system is nontoxic and water-based, which is crucial for biocompatibility.”
This combination of materials—silk-on-graphene—could form a sensitive, tunable transistor highly desired by the microelectronics industry for wearable and implantable health sensors. The PNNL team also sees potential for their use as a key component of memory transistors or “memristors,” in computing neural networks. Memristors, used in neural networks, allow computers to mimic how the human brain functions.
Continue reading the press release from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory which quotes Affiliate Professor of Chemistry James J. De Yoreo, a co-lead author of the study and includes Affiliate Professor of Chemistry W. James Pfaendtner as co-lead author.
ScienceDaily also published the story.