Home > Press > Nanotube Adhesive Sticks Better than a Gecko’s Foot
 |
Image courtesy of the University of Akron
Microfabricated aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube setae and spatulas. (A) Optical picture of gecko foot showing that the setae are arranged in many lobes along the foot. (B) SEM image of natural gecko setae terminating into thousands of smaller spatulas. (E--H) SEM images of synthetic setae of width 50 (E), 100 (F), 250 (G), and 500 (H) �m. (C and D) Side views (C) and higher magnification SEM image (D) of the 100 �m setae. |
Abstract:
Mimicking the agile gecko, with its uncanny ability to run up walls and across ceilings, has long been a goal of materials scientists. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Akron have taken one sticky step in the right direction, creating synthetic "gecko tape" with four times the sticking power of the real thing.
Nanotube Adhesive Sticks Better than a Gecko’s Foot
Troy, NY | Posted on June 18th, 2007
Mimicking the agile gecko, with its uncanny ability to run up walls and across ceilings, has long been a goal of materials scientists. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Akron have taken one sticky step in the right direction, creating synthetic "gecko tape" with four times the sticking power of the real thing.
In a paper published in the June 18-22 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers describe a process for making polymer surfaces covered with carbon nanotube hairs. The nanotubes imitate the thousands of microscopic hairs on a gecko's footpad, which form weak bonds with whatever surface the creature touches, allowing it to "unstick" itself simply by shifting its foot.
For the first time, the team has developed a prototype flexible patch that can stick and unstick repeatedly with properties better than the natural gecko foot. They fashioned their material into an adhesive tape that can be used on a wide variety of surfaces, including Teflon.
Pulickel Ajayan, the Henry Burlage Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Rensselaer, and Lijie Ci, a postdoctoral research associate in Ajayan's lab, created the material in collaboration with Ali Dhinojwala, professor of polymer science at the University of Akron, and University of Akron graduate students Liehui Ge and Sunny Sethi.
"Several people have tried to use carbon nanotube films and other fibrous structures as high-adhesive surfaces and to mimic gecko feet, but with limited success when it comes to realistic demonstrations of the stickiness and reversibility that one sees in gecko feet," Ajayan said. "We have shown that the patchy structures from micropatterned nanotubes are essential for this unique engineering feat to work. The nanotubes also need to be the right kind, with the right dimensions and compliance."
"Geckos inspired us to develop a synthetic gecko tape unlike any you'll find in a hardware store," Dhinojwala says. "Synthetic gecko tape uses ‘van der Waals interactions' — the same interactions that hold liquids and solids together — to stick to a variety of surfaces without using sticky glues."
The material could have a number of applications, including feet for wall-climbing robots; a dry, reversible adhesive in electronic devices; and outer space, where most adhesives don't work because of the vacuum.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.
####
About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the nation’s oldest technological university. The university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology, architecture, management, and the humanities and social sciences. Institute programs serve undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals around the world. Rensselaer faculty are known for pre-eminence in research conducted in a wide range of fields, with particular emphasis in biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and the media arts and technology. The Institute is well known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.
About the University of Akron
The University of Akron is the public research university for northern Ohio. It is the only public university in Ohio with a science and engineering program ranked in the top five nationally by U.S.News & World Report. Serving 24,000 students, the university offers approximately 300 associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and law degree programs and 100 certificate programs at sites in Summit, Wayne, Medina, and Holmes counties. For more information, visit http://uakron.edu .
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Amber Cleveland
(518) 276-2146
University of Akron Media Contact:
David Russ
(330) 972-6477
Copyright © Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
If you have a comment, please
Contact us.
Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Bookmark:
Nanotubes/Buckyballs
UC Riverside scientists discovering new uses for tiny carbon nanotubes: Adding ionic liquid to nanotube films could build smaller gadgets, and create more cost effective 'Smart Windows' that darken in bright sun May 15th, 2013
Development know-how is made available to collaboration partners: Bayer MaterialScience brings nano projects to a close May 8th, 2013
Next-generation transistor outperforms other carbon-based designs May 7th, 2013
Ubiquitous engineered nanomaterials cause lung inflammation, study finds: Substances are used in everything from paint to sporting equipment May 6th, 2013
Materials
Weird science: Crystals melt when they're cooled May 22nd, 2013
INSCX™ exchange announces substantial increase in capital designated to provide Trade Finance for registered Nanomaterial Producers May 21st, 2013
International survey supports need for built-in water protection on smartphones and tablets May 21st, 2013
Kinks and curves at the nanoscale: New research shows 'perfect twin boundaries' are not so perfect May 20th, 2013
Announcements
Whirlpools on the Nanoscale Could Multiply Magnetic Memory: At the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab scientists join an international team to control spin orientation in magnetic nanodisks May 22nd, 2013
Bacterial spare parts filter antibiotic residue from groundwater May 22nd, 2013
UofL scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery May 22nd, 2013
Atomic-Scale Investigations Solve Key Puzzle of LED Efficiency: MIT and Brookhaven Lab scientists use electron microscopy imaging techniques to settle a solid-state controversy and raise new experimental possibilities May 22nd, 2013
Alliances/Partnerships/Distributorships
Imec and GLOBALFOUNDRIES collaborate to advance high-density memory technology: STT-MRAM offers enhanced performance and scalability for embedded and standalone applications May 21st, 2013
NIA Public Briefing: Nanotechnology and the Council of Europe May 17th, 2013
Imec and Renesas collaborate on ultra-low power short range radios: Collaboration will develop robust wireless solutions for future electronics May 16th, 2013
HELIOS Program Develops Complete Supply Chain for Integrating Photonics with CMOS Circuit via IC Fabrication Processes May 14th, 2013
Research partnerships
Weird science: Crystals melt when they're cooled May 22nd, 2013
Researchers Stitch Defects into the World’s Thinnest Semiconductor May 22nd, 2013
Whirlpools on the Nanoscale Could Multiply Magnetic Memory: At the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab scientists join an international team to control spin orientation in magnetic nanodisks May 22nd, 2013
Atomic-Scale Investigations Solve Key Puzzle of LED Efficiency: MIT and Brookhaven Lab scientists use electron microscopy imaging techniques to settle a solid-state controversy and raise new experimental possibilities May 22nd, 2013