Science for all Why did scientists create a new type of nanopasta which is thinner than spaghetti

A size comparison of spaghetti and newly-invented nanopasta.
| Photo Credit: Nanoscale Advances journal

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Scientists at the University College London and Imperial College London have created the world’s thinnest spaghetti, but it’s not just another type of pasta.

Around 370 nanometres (nm) thick, the team made the super-slender noodles by electrospinning, a technique that uses electric force to produce ultrafine fibres, usually in the range of some nanometres to micrometres, from a polymer solution. The team’s efforts were described in a paper published in the journal Nanoscale Advances on October 30, 2024.

Electrospinning white flour yields a nanofibre of starch, saving researchers the fuss of using messy industrial processes to make it. The industrial extraction purification processes to make starch for commercial use are more energy-intensive.

In their experiment, the scientists dissolved 17% of flour by weight in warm formic acid. Once it cooled, the solution was electrospun to yield the pasta of width 372 nm (give or take 138 nm).

Formic acid was a suitable solvent because it could break the macroscopic starch granules into smaller, more serviceable pieces.

This said, while the researchers successfully used electrospinning to achieve their goal, there were some localised shortcomings. The liquid from which the fibre was spun also contained some droplets, speaking to the substance’s unstable nature. The researchers also had more difficulty electrospinning flour than starch because the solution was inconsistent. Starch, they wrote, forms a more homogenous solution.

Mass-produced pasta with the smallest width is currently ‘angel hair’ (capelli d’angello), with a width of around 800 micrometres, the paper said. The record for the thinnest pasta currently produced is the ‘thread of god’: it’s entirely handspun by people in Nuoro, Italy, and has the gossamer-fine width of 400 micrometres.

Aside from making for exquisite food, ultra-thin fibres are also useful to make next-generation bandages that are highly porous, and are useful for engineering skin tissue.

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