Effects of the relative humidity and water droplet on adhesion of a bio-inspired nano-film

Zhilong Peng, Shaohua Chen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Inspired by geckos' adhesion, the effect of water membrane forming due to the environmental humidity, on the adhesion between a bio-inspired nano-film and a substrate is investigated first. The disjoining pressure is considered, which results in an enhancing adhesion between the nano-film and substrate. When the thickness of water membrane increases, water droplets will form and a repulsive capillary force between the nano-film and substrate is produced. The total adhesion force decreases with an increasing volume of water droplets. The two opposite results in the two different models are consistent well with two seemingly inconsistent experimental observations by Huber et al. (2005) [4] and Sun et al. (2005) [5], respectively, and may be significant for the development of artificial biomimetic attachment systems.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)717-721
Number of pages5
JournalColloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces
Volume88
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Adhesion
  • Gecko
  • Nano-film
  • Relative humidity
  • Water droplet

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Peng, Z., & Chen, S. (2011). Effects of the relative humidity and water droplet on adhesion of a bio-inspired nano-film. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 88(2), 717-721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2011.08.006