Starchy nanofibers shatter the record for world’s thinnest pasta
Ultrathin nanofibers (seen here in an image from a scanning electron microscope) made from flour and formic acid measure just about 370 nanometers thick — the thinnest noodles on record.
The world record for the thinnest pasta has been shattered, though the new, narrow noodles are better suited to wound dressings than the dinner table.
From white flour, researchers made starch-rich nanofibers that are about 370 nanometers thick, on average — or about two hundredths the thickness of a human hair. The nano-noodles could be used in biodegradable bandages, chemist Adam Clancy and colleagues reported October 30 in Nanoscale Advances.
To make the noodle “dough,” the scientists mixed the flour with formic acid, a liquid that helps uncoil the long starch molecules in the flour. “Normally, if you want to cook starch, then you use water and heat to break up the tight packing of starch,” says Clancy, of University College London. “We do that chemically with formic acid. So we effectively pickle it instead of cooking it.”
The researchers carefully warmed the dough to give it the right consistency. Then, via a technique called electrospinning, they used an electric charge to pull the mixture through a needle and onto a plate a few centimeters away (SN: 4/4/06). The starch molecules tangle with each other as they leave the needle, forming a continuous jet. As the jet flies through the air, the formic acid evaporates, leaving a thin fiber behind. After about 30 seconds, the fiber forms a thin mat on the plate.
