Water-based processing plays a crucial role in high technology, especially in electronics, material sciences and life sciences, with important implications in the development of high-quality reliable devices, fabrication efficiency, safety and sustainability. At the micro- and nanoscale, water is uniquely enabling as a bridge between biological and technological systems. However, new approaches are needed to overcome fundamental challenges that arise from the high surface tension of water, which hinders wetting and, thus, fabrication at the bio–nano interface. Here we report the use of silk fibroin as a surfactant to enable water-based processing of nanoscale devices. Even in minute quantities (for example, 0.01 w/v%), silk fibroin considerably enhances surface coverage and outperforms commercial surfactants in precisely controlling interfacial energy between water-based solutions and hydrophobic surfaces. This effect is ascribed to the amphiphilic nature of the silk molecule and its adaptive adsorption onto substrates with diverse surface energy, facilitating intermolecular interactions between unlikely pairs of materials. The approach’s versatility is highlighted by manufacturing water-processed nanodevices, ranging from transistors to photovoltaic cells. Its performance is found to be equivalent to analogous vacuum-processed devices, underscoring the utility and versatility of this approach for water-based nanofabrication.

水基加工在高科技领域发挥着至关重要的作用，尤其是在电子、材料科学和生命科学领域，对开发高质量可靠设备、制造效率、安全性和可持续性具有重要意义。在微米和纳米尺度上，水作为生物和技术系统之间的桥梁具有独特的优势。然而，需要新的方法来克服水的高表面张力所带来的基本挑战，这些挑战会阻碍润湿，从而阻碍生物-纳米界面的制造。在这里，我们报道了使用丝素蛋白作为表面活性剂来实现纳米级器件的水基加工。即使是微量（例如，0.01 w/v%），丝素蛋白也能显著提高表面覆盖率，并在精确控制水基溶液和疏水表面之间的界面能方面优于商业表面活性剂。这种效应归因于丝分子的两亲性及其对具有不同表面能的基材的适应性吸附，从而促进了不太可能的材料对之间的分子间相互作用。该方法的多功能性通过制造从晶体管到光伏电池的水处理纳米器件而凸显出来。发现其性能与类似的真空处理器件相当，强调了这种方法在水基纳米制造中的实用性和多功能性。