Air Mediated Reversible Underwater Adhesion: from Beetles to Bioinspired Materials

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The ladybird and leaf beetles are intriguing examples of air-mediated reversible underwater adhesion. They are capable of adhering to solid surfaces underwater although they are terrestrial beetles. This successful adaptation suggests we might be looking at a general and fundamental capability of many species covered with superhydrophobic microstructures, such as insects and reptiles, to perform underwater locomotion. In this study, the ladybird and leaf beetles will act as model systems. The first aim is to understand and quantify the different contributions to air mediated underwater adhesion such as mechanical, physio-chemical and morphologicalproperties of the beetles adhering parts. Then, the important parameters will be identified and their scaling behavior will be determined in order to expand the range of possible material designs. Bio-inspired synthetic surfaces will be synthesized and tested in order to verify the theoretical predictions. Finally, additional routes to stick surfaces directly underwater through controlled nucleation of airbridges will be developed as a mean to achieve glue-free underwater adhesion. Overall, understanding the underlying principles used by beetles to achieve air-mediated underwater adhesion and perform underwater locomotion will allow not just to mimic their structures, but to design optimized synthetic materials and develop new methods to achieve strong air-mediated, reversible, underwater adhesion.