A research team led by University College London (UCL) has produced the world’s thinnest spaghetti, approximately 200 times thinner than a human hair.

This spaghetti is not meant for consumption but is instead designed to develop ultrathin materials—nanofibers—with applications in medicine and industry.

Starch-Based Nanofibers: A Promising Material

These nanofibers are made from starch, a substance plants produce to store excess glucose. Starch-based nanofibers have significant potential applications due to their high porosity, allowing them to let water and moisture pass through while keeping bacteria out. This property makes them suitable for wound-healing bandages, scaffolds for bone regeneration, and drug delivery systems. However, extracting and purifying starch from plant cells for nanofiber production typically requires large amounts of energy and water.

According to the researchers, a more sustainable approach would be to produce nanofibers directly from a starch-rich material like flour. This is where pasta comes into play.

The New Method: Electrospinning

In a study published in Nanoscale Advances, researchers described how they used a technique called electrospinning to create spaghetti measuring just 372 nanometers in width (one billionth of a meter). This process involves drawing a mixture of flour and liquid from the tip of a needle using an electric charge. The study was led by Beatrice Britton during her chemistry master’s research at UCL.

Co-author Dr. Adam Clancy (UCL Chemistry) explained:

“When making normal spaghetti, you push water and flour through metal holes. In our study, we used an electric charge to pull the mixture instead. Essentially, it’s still spaghetti, just on a much smaller scale.”

Thinner Than Traditional Pasta

The researchers referenced su filindeu (“Threads of God”), a handmade pasta from Nuoro, Sardinia, known as the world’s thinnest traditional pasta, with an estimated width of around 400 microns (0.4 mm). However, the new electrospun spaghetti is only 372 nanometers wide—1,000 times thinner than su filindeu and even narrower than some wavelengths of light.

Applications and Future Research

The new “nano pasta” formed a nanofiber mesh approximately 2 cm in diameter. However, each fiber is so thin that it cannot be clearly seen with visible light cameras or microscopes; instead, researchers measured them using a scanning electron microscope.

Co-author Professor Gareth Williams (UCL School of Pharmacy) highlighted that starch-based nanofibers could be used in wound dressings and scaffolds that support tissue regrowth.

Dr. Clancy emphasized the sustainability of starch as a material:

“Producing pure starch involves many processing steps. We demonstrated that nanofibers can be created more simply using flour. The next step is to investigate the properties of this material, such as its biodegradability, interactions with cells, and scalability for large-scale production.”

How It Was Made

The electrospinning technique relies on the principle that the needle containing the mixture and the metal plate where the fibers accumulate act as opposite poles of a battery. When an electric charge is applied, the mixture is drawn from the needle toward the plate.

Using flour instead of pure starch posed challenges due to the impurities introduced by proteins and cellulose, which made the mixture denser and more difficult for fibers to form. To overcome this, the researchers used formic acid instead of water. Formic acid broke down the large spiral layers of starch into fundamental nanofiber components. As the mixture traveled from the needle to the metal plate, the formic acid evaporated.

Additionally, the team had to carefully heat the mixture for hours and then cool it slowly to achieve the correct consistency for fiber formation.

Lead author Beatrice Britton summarized the experience:

“It was fascinating to adjust variables and observe how the mixture changed. Through trial and error, I succeeded in forming the fibers. I’m grateful to Adam and Gareth for their constant support.”

Source: University College London (UCL) News

This research is based on the following study:

• Beatrice Britton, Fangyuan Zhang, David B. Anthony, Ceasar III D. L. Reyes, Michal Pawlus, Gareth R. Williams, Adam J. Clancy. Nanopasta: electrospinning nanofibers of white flour. Nanoscale Advances, 2024; DOI: 10.1039/D4NA00601A

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