Residue-Free Adhesives Inspired by Geckos

Innovation: Industry

nanoGriptech

Image: Scott Osborn / Unsplash / CC BY SA - Creative Commons Attribution + ShareAlike

Attach Temporarily

Living systems must sometimes, temporarily, stay in one place, climb or otherwise move around, or hold things together. This entails attaching temporarily with the ability to release, which minimizes energy and material use. Some living systems repeatedly attach, detach, and reattach for an extended time, such as over their lifetimes. Despite being temporary, these attachments must withstand physical and other forces until they have achieved their purpose. Therefore, living systems have adapted attachment mechanisms optimized for the amount of time or number of times they must be used. An example is the gecko, which climbs walls by attaching its toes for less than a second. Other examples include insects that attach their eggs to a leaf until they hatch, and insects whose wings temporarily attach during flight but separate after landing.

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Protect From Dirt/solids

When dirt and other small solids adhere to living systems, they can slow them down, create blockages, reduce their ability to carry out vital functions, or cause surface wear and tear. Due to electrostatic forces, it’s easy for dirt and other solids to adhere to surfaces, so living systems must overcome those forces. An earthworm, for example, uses a small electric current to keep soil particles from adhering to its body as it moves through the soil. This enables it to move more efficiently by reducing drag.

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Patents

Nature Did It First: Engineering Through Biomimicry

A picture book introduction to biomimicry with beautiful illustrations, playful rhymes and nonfiction content for ages 5 and up. A bonus STEM design activity is also included.

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Setex Geckotape from nanoGriptech has fiber tips and a release film that help adhere to surfaces without leaving a residue.

Benefits

Reusable
Residue-free
Glue-free

Applications

Wearables
Robotics
Automotive
Medicine
Packaging

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 9: Industry Innovation & Infrastructure

The Challenge

Adhesives are used in every industry and are an essential part of everyday life. However, traditional adhesives are single-use and often use a strong glue that can leave a sticky residue once removed. Additionally, many adhesives quickly lose their effectiveness when wet.

Innovation Details

Setex Geckotape™ has thousands of anti-slip microstructured fibers on its surface, similar to a gecko’s foot. This enormous surface area creates a large region of attraction that allows it to stick to a variety of surfaces, even in wet or oily conditions.

Biological Model

Geckos have amazing adhesive abilities and can stick to almost any surface. Their toe pads are covered in millions of small hair-like projections called setae. These setae branch further into hundreds of nano-scale structures that end in tiny discs called spatulae. This multi-scale branching gives gecko feet a very high surface area. Spatulae stick to surfaces by van der Waals forces that occur between all molecules. Although these forces are individually weak, the high surface area of all the spatulae combined makes the force quite strong, which enable geckos to adhere quickly and easily to surfaces.

See Related Strategy

Biological Strategy

Feet Are Super Sticky but Don’t Get Dirty

Tokay gecko

Feet of the tokay gecko use atomic forces to stick to surfaces, but stay clean by flinging contaminants off toes.

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