Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Significant Adhesion Enhancement of Bioinspired Dry Adhesives by Simple Thermal Treatment

  • Regular Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bioinspired dry adhesives with micropillar arrays can be harnessed for precise and environment-friendly manufacturing. This study presents a simple and robust approach for developing synthetic dry adhesives with significantly enhanced adhesion strength without sophisticated structural modification or chemical surface treatment. We show that when dry adhesives with micropillar arrays are annealed at slightly elevated temperatures of 150–200 °C, their adhesion strengths are remarkably enhanced (maximum normal adhesion: 50.0 N cm−2) compared to those that are not treated thermally (normal adhesion: 17.6 N cm−2). The enhanced adhesion levels obtained by simple annealing surpass those of previously reported dry adhesives having nanoscale hairs with high aspect ratios or mushroom-like pillars with large tips. Experimental investigations regarding the chemical structure, surface roughness, surface energy, and elastic modulus of the dry adhesive samples indicate that the enhanced adhesion originates from the annealing-induced enhancement of the adhesive’s elastic modulus

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Autumn, K., Sitti, M., Liang, Y. A., Peattie, A. M., Hansen, W. R., Sponberg, S., et al. (2002). Evidence for Van Der Waals Adhesion in Gecko Setae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99(19), 12252–12256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Geim, A. K., Dubonos, S. V., Grigorieva, I. V., Novoselov, K. S., Zhukov, A. A., & Shapoval, S. Y. (2003). Microfabricated adhesive mimicking gecko foot-hair. Nature Materials, 2(7), 461–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Sitti, M., & Fearing, R. S. (2003). Synthetic gecko foot-hair micro/nano-structures as dry adhesives. Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 17(8), 1055–1073.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Boesel, L. F., Greiner, C., Arzt, E., & del Campo, A. (2010). Gecko-inspired surfaces: a path to strong and reversible dry adhesives. Advanced Materials, 22(19), 2125–2137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Kwak, M. K., Pang, C., Jeong, H.-E., Kim, H.-N., Yoon, H., Jung, H.-S., et al. (2011). Towards the next level of bioinspired dry adhesives: new designs and applications. Advanced Functional Materials, 21(19), 3606–3616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Qu, L., Dai, L., Stone, M., Xia, Z., & Wang, Z. L. (2008). Carbon nanotube arrays with strong shear binding-on and easy normal lifting-off. Science, 322(5899), 238–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Northen, M. T., Greiner, C., Arzt, E., & Turner, K. L. (2008). A gecko-inspired reversible adhesive. Advanced Materials, 20(20), 3905–3909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ho, A. Y. Y., Yeo, L. P., Lam, Y. C., & Rodríguez, I. (2011). Fabrication and analysis of gecko-inspired hierarchical polymer nanosetae. ACS Nano, 5(3), 1897–1906.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Greiner, C., Arzt, E., & del Campo, A. (2009). Hierarchical gecko-like adhesives. Advanced Materials, 21(4), 479–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Yi, H., Hwang, I., Sung, M., Lee, D., Kim, J.-H., Kang, S. M., et al. (2014). Bio-inspired adhesive systems for next-generation green manufacturing. International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology, 1(4), 347–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhou, M., Tian, Y., Sameoto, D., Zhang, X., Meng, Y., & Wen, S. (2013). Controllable interfacial adhesion applied to transfer light and fragile objects by using gecko inspired mushroom-shaped pillar surface. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 5(20), 10137–10144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Kang, S. M. (2016). Bioinspired design and fabrication of green-environmental dry adhesive with robust wide-tip shape. International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology, 3(2), 189–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ko, H., Seong, M., & Jeong, H. E. (2017). A micropatterned elastomeric surface with enhanced frictional properties under wet conditions and its application. Soft Matter, 13(45), 8419–8425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Sangbae, K., Spenko, M., Trujillo, S., Heyneman, B., Santos, D., & Cutkosky, M. R. (2008). Smooth vertical surface climbing with directional adhesion. IEEE Transactions on robotics, 24(1), 65–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Santos, D., Heyneman, B., Kim, S., Esparza, N. and Cutkosky, M., “Gecko-inspired climbing behaviors on vertical and overhanging surfaces,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Robot. Autom., pp. 1125-1131, 2008.

  16. Han, I. H., Yi, H., Song, C. W., Jeong, H. E., & Lee, S. Y. (2017). A miniaturized wall-climbing segment robot inspired by caterpillar locomotion. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 12(4), 046003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Murphy, M. P., Kute, C., Mengüç, Y., Sitti, M., & Waalbot, I. L. (2010). Adhesion recovery and improved performance of a climbing robot using fibrillar adhesives. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 30(1), 118–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Ko, H., Yi, H., & Jeong, H. E. (2017). Wall and ceiling climbing quadruped robot with superior water repellency manufactured using 3d printing (Uniclimb). International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology, 4(3), 273–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Bae, W. G., Kim, D., Kwak, M. K., Ha, L., Kang, S. M., & Suh, K. Y. (2013). Enhanced skin adhesive patch with modulus-tunable composite micropillars. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2(1), 109–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Kim, T., Park, J., Sohn, J., Cho, D., & Jeon, S. (2016). Bioinspired, highly stretchable, and conductive dry adhesives based on 1d-2d hybrid carbon nanocomposites for all-in-one ECG electrodes. ACS Nano, 10(4), 4770–4778.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Wang, H., Pastorin, G., & Lee, C. (2016). Toward self-powered wearable adhesive skin patch with bendable microneedle array for transdermal drug delivery. Advanced Science, 3(9), 1500441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Stauffer, F., Thielen, M., Sauter, C., Chardonnens, S., Bachmann, S., Tybrandt, K., et al. (2018). Skin conformal polymer electrodes for clinical ECG and EEG recordings. Advanced Healthcare Material, 7(7), 1700994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Hwang, I., Kim, H. N., Seong, M., Lee, S. H., Kang, M., Yi, H., et al. (2018). Multifunctional smart skin adhesive patches for advanced health care. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 7, 1800275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. del Campo, A., & Arzt, E. (2007). Design parameters and current fabrication approaches for developing bioinspired dry adhesives. Macromolecular Bioscience, 7(2), 118–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Jeong, H. E., Lee, J.-K., Kim, H. N., Moon, S. H., & Suh, K. Y. (2009). A nontransferring dry adhesive with hierarchical polymer nanohairs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(14), 5639–5644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Barreau, V., Hensel, R., Guimard, N. K., Ghatak, A., McMeeking, R. M., & Arzt, E. (2016). Fibrillar elastomeric micropatterns create tunable adhesion even to rough surfaces. Advanced Functional Materials, 26(26), 4687–4694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Wang, Z. (2018). Slanted functional gradient micropillars for optimal bioinspired dry adhesion. ACS Nano, 12(2), 1273–1284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Jeong, H. E., Lee, S. H., Kim, P., & Suh, K. Y. (2006). Stretched polymer nanohairs by nanodrawing. Nano Letters, 6(7), 1508–1513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Zhang, Y., Lo, C.-W., Taylor, J. A., & Yang, S. (2006). Replica molding of high-aspect-ratio polymeric nanopillar arrays with high fidelity. Langmuir, 22(20), 8595–8601.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Greiner, C., del Campo, A., & Arzt, E. (2007). Adhesion of bioinspired micropatterned surfaces: effects of pillar radius, aspect ratio, and preload. Langmuir, 23(7), 3495–3502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Murphy, M. P., Kim, S., & Sitti, M. (2009). Enhanced adhesion by gecko-inspired hierarchical fibrillar adhesives. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 1(4), 849–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Kim, D. S., Lee, H. S., Lee, J., Kim, S., Lee, K.-H., Moon, W., et al. (2006). Replication of High-aspect-ratio nanopillar array for biomimetic gecko foot-hair prototype by UV nano embossing with anodic aluminum oxide mold. Microsystem Technologies, 13(5–6), 601–606.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Kim, T.-I., Jeong, H. E., Suh, K. Y., & Lee, H. H. (2009). Stooped nanohairs: geometry-controllable, unidirectional, reversible, and robust gecko-like dry adhesive. Advanced Materials, 21(22), 2276–2281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Dinesh, D., & Yang, S. (2010). Stability of high-aspect-ratio micropillar arrays against adhesive and capillary forces. Accounts of Chemical Research, 43(8), 1080–1091.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Jeong, H. E., & Suh, K. Y. (2009). Nanohairs and nanotubes: efficient structural elements for gecko-inspired artificial dry adhesives. Nano Today, 4(4), 335–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Lee, J., Bush, B., Maboudian, R., & Fearing, R. S. (2009). Gecko-inspired combined lamellar and nanofibrillar array for adhesion on nonplanar surface. Langmuir, 25(21), 12449–12453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Yi, H., Seong, M., Sun, K., Hwang, I., Lee, K., Cha, C., et al. (2018). Wet-responsive, reconfigurable, and biocompatible hydrogel adhesive films for transfer printing of nanomembranes. Advanced Functional Materials, 28(18), 1706498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Wang, D., Zhao, A., Jiang, R., Li, D., Zhang, M., Gan, Z., et al. (2012). Surface properties of bionic micro-pillar arrays with various shapes of tips. Applied Surface Science, 259, 93–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Park, H.-H., Seong, M., Sun, K., Ko, H., Kim, S. M., & Jeong, H. E. (2017). Flexible and shape-reconfigurable hydrogel interlocking adhesives for high adhesion in wet environments based on anisotropic swelling of hydrogel microstructures. ACS Macro Lett., 6(12), 1325–1330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. del Campo, A., Greiner, C., Álvarez, I., & Arzt, E. (2007). Patterned surfaces with pillars with controlled 3d tip geometry mimicking bioattachment devices. Advanced Materials, 19(15), 1973–1977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Hu, H., Tian, H., Shao, J., Wang, Y., Li, X., Tian, Y., et al. (2017). Friction contribution to bioinspired mushroom-shaped dry adhesives. Advanced Materials Interfaces, 4(9), 1700016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Yi, H., Kang, M., Kwak, M. K., & Jeong, H. E. (2016). Simple and reliable fabrication of bioinspired mushroom-shaped micropillars with precisely controlled tip geometries. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 8(34), 22671–22678.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Hu, H., Tian, H., Shao, J., Li, X., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., et al. (2017). Discretely supported dry adhesive film inspired by biological bending behavior for enhanced performance on a rough surface. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 9(8), 7752–7760.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Cho, Y., Kim, G., Cho, Y., Lee, S. Y., Minsky, H., Turner, K. T., et al. (2015). Orthogonal control of stability and tunable dry adhesion by tailoring the shape of tapered nanopillar arrays. Advanced Materials, 27(47), 7788–7793.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Raut, H. K., Baji, A., Hariri, H. H., Parveen, H., Soh, G. S., Low, H. Y., et al. (2018). Gecko-Inspired dry adhesive based on micro-nanoscale hierarchical arrays for application in climbing devices. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 10(1), 1288–1296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Seong, M., Jeong, C., Yi, H., Park, H.-H., Bae, W.-G., Park, Y.-B., et al. (2017). Adhesion of bioinspired nanocomposite microstructure at high temperatures. Applied Surface Science, 413, 275–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Owens, D. K., & Wendt, R. C. (1969). Estimation of the surface free energy of polymers. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 13(8), 1741–1747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Camino, G., Lomakin, S. M., & Lazzari, M. (2001). Polydimethylsiloxane thermal degradation part 1. Kinetic aspects. Polymer, 42(6), 2395–2402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Simpson, T. R. E., Tabatabaian, Z., Jeynes, C., Parbhoo, B., & Keddie, J. L. (2004). Influence of interfaces on the rates of crosslinking in poly (dimethyl siloxane) coatings. Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 42(6), 1421–1431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Zhang, Q., Xu, J.-J., Liu, Y., & Chen, H.-Y. (2008). In-situ synthesis of poly(dimethylsiloxane)-gold nanoparticles composite films and its application in microfluidic systems. Lab on a Chip, 8(2), 352–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Carbone, G., Pierro, E., & Gorb, S. N. (2011). Origin of the superior adhesive performance of mushroom-shaped microstructured surfaces. Soft Matter, 7(12), 5545–5552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Fernandez, V., & Khayet, M. (2015). Evaluation of the surface free energy of plant surfaces: toward standardizing the procedure. Frontiers in plant science, 6, 510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Kendall, K. (1971). The adhesion and surface energy of elastic solids. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 4(8), 1186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Schneider, F., Fellner, T., Wilde, J., & Wallrabe, U. (2008). Mechanical properties of silicones for MEMS. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 18(6), 065008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Seghir, R., & Arscott, S. (2015). Extended PDMS stiffness range for flexible systems. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 230, 33–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Chin, P., McCullough, R. L., & Wu, W.-L. (1997). An improved procedure for determining the work of adhesion for polymer-solid contact. Journal of Adhesion, 64(1–4), 145–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Hejda, F., Solar, P., & Kousal, J. (2010). Surface free energy determination by contact angle measurements—A comparison of various approaches. WDS, 10, 25–30.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Mid-career Researchers Supporting Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (2016R1A2B2014044) and the Research Grant funded by the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (1.170018) and the Fire Fighting Technology Research and Development Program funded by the Ministry of Public Safety and Security (MPSS-Fire safety-2015-72). On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea

    Minho Seong, Joosung Lee, Insol Hwang & Hoon Eui Jeong

Authors
  1. Minho Seong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joosung Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Insol Hwang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hoon Eui Jeong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hoon Eui Jeong.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 2348 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Seong, M., Lee, J., Hwang, I. et al. Significant Adhesion Enhancement of Bioinspired Dry Adhesives by Simple Thermal Treatment. Int. J. of Precis. Eng. and Manuf.-Green Tech. 6, 587–599 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-019-00062-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-019-00062-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation