Gecko‐Inspired Nanomaterials

Abstract

Abstract “Gecko‐inspired” – or perhaps more aptly named “bioinspired” – adhesives have attracted great interest during recent years that has not been limited to adhesion experts or biologists working in the field, but has also affected the general public. Whilst initially this might relate to the attraction of the gecko as an animal, a more convincing argument is that these adhesives hold great promise for general use. In the near future, they might be used on the desk, in the kitchen, or a robot might even explore other planets using a gecko‐inspired adhesive to enable it to climb over rocks and gravel. These admittedly futuristic examples will not serve as the content of this chapter, however; rather, attention will be focused (after having discussed the physical origin of gecko adhesion and how to mimic its abilities) on applications in the life sciences, despite this field being in its very early stages and very few studies having been reported to date. This is also the reason why previous reviews have not focused on potential biomedical applications. Yet, this vibrant field of research continues to progress so rapidly that new reports are made weekly, and current reviews are most likely already out of date. In this chapter, the physical principles behind gecko adhesion will first be established, since a profound knowledge is required to understand the peculiarities of this animal's climbing abilities, and how these may be mimicked by man‐made adhesives. The fabrication approaches selected to achieve this will form another major part of the text, and the different techniques used to quantify adhesion, its most common descriptors, and the main conclusions drawn to date will also be discussed. Finally, a brief summary will be provided, and some future perspectives proposed.