E-Beam Photoresist and Carbon Nanotubes as Biomimetic Dry Adhesives

This paper presents the fabrication and characterization of nano-fibrils mimicking gecko foot-hairs for enhanced dry adhesion. High contact area ratio of the polymer and carbon nanotube fibrils is achieved, respectively, using e-beam lithography and chemical vapor deposition. The adhesion forces from gecko foot-hairs and the artificial fibrils are measured with a customized AFM tip to evaluate the effects of different materials and surface density. With the water-vapor assisted deposition, the surface density of the carbon nanotubes is optimized for comparable adhesion forces to gecko foot-hairs.