Highly durable and unidirectionally stooped polymeric nanohairs for gecko-like dry adhesive

Nanotechnology. 2015 Oct 16;26(41):415301. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/26/41/415301. Epub 2015 Sep 22.

Abstract

Gecko-like dry adhesive using high aspect ratio polymeric nanohairs has insuperable limitations, although it has huge potential in many applications. Repeated harsh contacts on a target substrate lead to physical collapse of nanohairs and significant degradation of the adhesion property, because the polymeric nanohairs are quite fragile due to poor mechanical robustness. Herein, we demonstrate a highly robust gecko-like dry adhesive with unidirectionally stooped polymeric nanohairs (diameter 100 nm) with a high aspect ratio (∼9) using an ultrathin metal coating. 100 cycles of repeated adhesion tests with 1 N preloading force did not significantly degrade adhesion or cause collapse of nanohairs. We believe that this approach allows gecko-like dry adhesive to be utilized in many related applications and diverse industry interests.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't