The thinnest pasta in the world comes from Sardinia: it is called on filindeu, “threads of God”, and is 400 micrometers thick. Or rather, he was coming. Because a team of researchers from University College London has just created spaghetti 1000 times thinner. With their 372 nanometers thick, these nanospaghetti are invisible to the naked eye.
But that's not the point: the real revolution lies in the production method, which could pave the way for a totally new generation of biomedical materials.
The Invisible Spaghetti Challenge
The project, illustrated in a new article published on Nanoscale Advances (I link it here) was born from the need to find new methods to produce nanofibers starch-based. These microscopic materials have promising applications in medicine, but their traditional production requires energy- and water-intensive processes. The team led by Beatrice Britton he thought of using it directly flour, the same one we use to make pasta.
“To make spaghetti, you push a mixture of water and flour through metal holes. In our study, we did the same thing, but using an electric charge,” explains Dr. Adam Clancy.
Basically, it's a bit like when we roll out pasta at home, but with a touch of quantum physics.
How are “nanometric” spaghetti made?
The technique used is called electrospinning, the same one that other labs are using for 3D printing entire networks of blood vessels. The dough is passed through a very thin needle, while an electric charge attracts it to a metal plate. During the journey, the formic acid used in place of water evaporates, leaving behind only incredibly thin filaments.
The result? A tangle of fibers that forms a sort of fabric about two centimeters wide. Each individual "thread" of this fabric is so thin that not even an optical microscope can see it clearly. To measure its thickness it was necessary to use a scanning electron microscope1.
The promises of nanopasta
These infinitesimal spaghetti could revolutionize several fields of medicine. Their potential applications include bandages advanced wound care (the porous structure allows even moisture to pass through, but blocks bacteria) and scaffolding for bone regeneration.
“Starch is a promising material because it is abundant, renewable and biodegradable,” emphasizes the Professor Gareth Williams ofUCL School of Pharmacy. “It is the second source of biomass on Earth, after cellulose.”
A future that won't end up on a plate
Despite the evocative name, these spaghetti are not intended for gastronomy. As jokingly observes the Professor Williams: “I don’t think they’re useful as pasta, unfortunately, because they would cook in less than a second, before you could remove them from the pan.”
It doesn't matter: the real value of this research lies in having demonstrated that It is possible to produce nanofibers using common materials such as flour, paving the way for more sustainable production processes for advanced biomedical materials. Sometimes the greatest innovations are born by rethinking the most everyday objects. However, we are happy to “make do” with filindeu. Enjoy your meal!
- The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is an instrument that uses electrons instead of light to observe microscopic objects. Like a barcode reader, it “scans” the surface creating nearly three-dimensional black and white images, with magnifications of up to 100.000 times. It is fundamental in scientific research, industry and materials analysis.
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