Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Liu D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6397028 | biostudies-other | 2019 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Science advances 20190301 3
Self-powered actuation driven by ambient humidity is of practical interest for applications such as hygroscopic artificial muscles. We demonstrate that spider dragline silk exhibits a humidity-induced torsional deformation of more than 300°/mm. When the relative humidity reaches a threshold of about 70%, the dragline silk starts to generate a large twist deformation independent of spider species. The torsional actuation can be precisely controlled by regulating the relative humidity. The behavio ...[more]