Nanotube tape out-sticks gecko feet
If biomimicry—the application of nature’s design principles to modern technology—has a poster child, it’s surely the gecko, whose sticky feet enable it to scamper across walls and ceilings. Several years ago researchers created nanotube surfaces that matched the gecko’s tenacious toes for stickiness, but how to unstick, and thereby create a useful product, has eluded scientists—until now. Researchers have created synthetic gecko nanotube tape with four times the gecko’s sticking power that can stick and unstick repeatedly. The material could have applications in feet for wall-climbing robots; a dry, reversible adhesive in electronic devices; and outer space, where most adhesives don’t work because of the vacuum.