Silkworm silk fiber is an attractive material owing to its remarkable mechanical characteristics, excellent optical properties, and good biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, nano-processing of the silk fiber is still a challenge limiting its applications in nanoengineering and related fields. Herein, we report localized near-field enhancement-assisted ablation with an ultrafast laser to break this bottleneck. Localized processing of silk fiber, including nano-holing, nano-grooving, and cutting could retain the key molecular structure building blocks and the pristine functionality of the silk fiber. An extremely narrow nanohole with a width of ∼64 nm was successfully achieved. The processed silk fiber can be used to transfer micro/nanoparticles and drugs, showing potential for biomedical engineering. The processing strategy developed in this study can also be extended to other materials, paving a new way for fabricating functional nanostructures with precisely controlled size and morphology.

蚕丝纤维由于其卓越的机械特性，优异的光学性能以及良好的生物相容性和生物降解性而成为一种有吸引力的材料。然而，丝纤维的纳米加工仍然是限制其在纳米工程和相关领域中的应用的挑战。在本文中，我们报告了使用超快激光进行局部近场增强辅助消融以打破这一瓶颈。蚕丝纤维的局部加工，包括纳米孔，纳米开槽和切割，可以保留关键的分子结构基础和蚕丝纤维的原始功能。成功实现了一个宽度约64 nm的极窄的纳米孔。加工后的丝纤维可用于转移微米/纳米颗粒和药物，显示出在生物医学工程领域的潜力。