Biological and Bioinspired Micro- and Nanostructured Adhesives

Abstract

Summary: Representatives of several animal groups, such as insects, arachnids, tree frogs, and lizards, are able to walk on (and therefore to attach to) tilted, vertical surfaces, and even ceilings. The dynamic adhesion of these animals during locomotion relies on some extraordinary properties of their feet. Detailed characterization of selected biological model systems (e.g., geckos, spiders, flies, and beetles) and comparative studies of a large variety of other organisms possessing similar functional systems that have appeared independently in the course of biological evolution are described in the first part of the chapter. Driven by the understanding of biological adhesion that the fine surface structures dominating the surface chemistry control the adhesion performance, extensive attention has been paid to the systematic mimicking of structural features of biological systems. The methodologies for constructing fibrillar adhesives are summarized and discussed in the second part of the chapter. © 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.