Biomimetics of Fibrillar Adhesion in Lizards and Insects
Biologists have shown that a hierarchical fibrillar structure has evolved independently in many animals, conferring dry, reversible adhesion and controlled contact properties. If the natural materials can be mimicked synthetically, the effort will yield an unprecedented one-sided adhesive using stiff materials. We study the design principles of such fibrillar structures theoretically and validate our ideas by fabricating mimics usually using photolithographic patterning.
Some examples of fibrillar structures in nature:
Examples of mimics
Buckling of fibrils under contact load (bad for adhesion!)
