Silk — a natural protein fibre — has recently emerged ... components in lieu of inorganic materials or synthetic polymers, which require either chemical postprocessing or high temperatures ...

Polymers are either natural or synthetic macromolecules composed of many repeating units (monomers) usually arranged in the form of a chain. Examples of polymers are silk, rubber, silicone ...

What types of new plastics can be developed with enhanced recycling capabilities? This is what a recent study published in ...

Many of silk fibroin’s advantages over other natural polymers come down to its structure: it has a strong, stable “beta-sheet” that allows it to act in ways other proteins can’t ...

Synthetic biologists are using natural systems to produce materials with enhanced features ... its tensile strength—a measure of how much a polymer deforms when strained—is almost thrice that of ...