Microscale composite structures towards normal adhesion on skin surfaces

• Applicant: Dr. René Hensel
• Subject Area: Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
• Term: from 2015 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 277566232

The adhesive organs of many animals such as arthropods and geckos reveal a promising concept for temporary, reversible adhesion. Their fibrillar nano- and microstructure allows the locomotion on substrates of different materials and with various degrees of roughness. Since its discovery, mimicking and translating of such a purely physically based adhesion phenomena into artificial systems is a field of great interest in fundamental and applied research. While comparatively large number of publications refers to adhesion of micropatterned surfaces on smooth, rigid substrates it is in fact little known about the adhesion of such fibrillar adhesives to soft and rough substrates, although those are common in nature and do usually not constitute an obstacle to arthropods or geckos. Toward this aim, we want to develop a novel approach to this problem in the proposed project by expanding the Gecomer technology developed at the INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken. Composite micropatterned surfaces are to be developed, so that the elastomeric fibrils exhibit a softer material in the contact area. Hence, the proposed project aims to combine the design principle of contact splitting with an improved adaptation to various surface morphologies by soft materials. In addition, the results of experimental studies should provide sufficient data to develop a theoretical model for the contact mechanics of fibrillar structures on compliant, rough substrates.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants