Noshir Pesika

Tulane University

Design, fabrication and characterization of gecko-like dry adhesives

The extraordinary adhesive properties of gecko feet have inspired several research groups to fabricate artificial gecko-like dry adhesives.  One of these properties includes anisotropic adhesion and friction (i.e. the ability to stick strongly to almost any surface through van der Waals interactions when sheared in one direction yet detach quickly and easily when sheared in the opposite direction) as a result of the tilt in the pillar-like structures.

Here, we present a novel facile method to incorporate tilt into the artificial adhesive pillars relying on conventional and unconventional techniques.  Several polymer-based structures are fabricated with varying tilt angles and the dependence of adhesion and friction forces as a result of the tilt angle is shown.  The results are in good agreement with the Peel Zone model, which predicts the magnitude of the adhesion and friction forces as a function of the peel angle or tilt angle.  We will also describe the design of the next generation of gecko-like structures, which are expected to show greater anisotropy in adhesion and friction as well as enhanced overall adhesion and friction forces.

 Noshir Pesika received a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, both in chemical engineering.  Since completing his post-doctoral work at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the laboratory of Jacob Israelachvili studying the gecko adhesion system, he is the Robert and Gayle Longmire Early Career Professor at Tulane University.

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