Biomimetic adhesive materials with tailored properties

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As future technological innovations gear towards miniaturizing machines and maximizing performance density, our challenges as engineers and scientists become our ability to build micro- and nano-machines and understand phenomena at a scale we normally do not deal with. This proposal is devoted to investigating the adhesion and contact dynamics of new polymeric coating and adhesive materials at the microscopic, nanoscopic and molecular levels, and to obtaining mechanistic information about the performance of these coating and adhesive layers under lateral and normal stress/strain conditions in order to translate them for effective applications. The research program will seek inspirations from such biological designs as the foot pads of little lizards - geckos. Geckos, having millions of finger-like nanoscopic fibrils on their foot pads, can readily and rapidly attach to almost any surface (whether it be hydrophilic or hydrophobic, rough or smooth, dry or wet) and detach just as readily and rapidly. In contrast, conventional engineering adhesives require careful surface preparations, and often fail to adhere in the presence of water and other contaminants. This research program will combine chemical modification techniques at the molecular level and surface patterning at the nano- and micro-levels to fabricate new types of coating and adhesive thin films, and conduct detailed surface force (adhesion and friction) measurements to characterize these biomimetic adhesive materials. The ultimate goal is to discover and define novel adhesive and coating strategies and approaches for tailor-made properties that can be incorporated into synthetic polymers for robust and adaptable bonding. The program, working at the frontier of surface and interfacial science and engineering, will generate new knowledge at the microscopic, nanoscopic, and molecular levels which have technological implications for chemicals and materials, and biomedical applications, and provide a much needed multi-disciplinary training to highly qualified personnel that will improve the competitiveness of our Canadian economy and benefit mankind as well.