Biomimetic adhesive materials with tailored properties

随着未来的技术创新转向机器的小型化和性能密度的最大化，作为工程师和科学家，我们面临的挑战是如何构建微型和纳米机器，并以我们通常无法处理的规模来理解现象。该提案致力于在微观，纳米和分子水平上研究新的聚合物涂层和粘合剂材料的粘合和接触动力学，并获得关于这些涂层和粘合剂层在横向和法向应力/应变条件下的性能的机械信息，以便将其转化为有效的应用。 这项研究计划将从小蜥蜴-壁虎的脚垫等生物设计中寻求灵感。壁虎的脚垫上有数以百万计的手指状纳米纤维，它们可以轻松快速地附着在几乎任何表面（无论是亲水性还是疏水性，粗糙还是光滑，干燥还是潮湿）上，并同样轻松快速地分离。 相比之下，传统的工程粘合剂需要仔细的表面处理，并且在水和其他污染物的存在下通常无法粘附。该研究计划将结合分子水平的联合收割机化学改性技术和纳米和微米水平的表面图案化，以制造新型涂层和粘合剂薄膜，并进行详细的表面力（粘附力和摩擦力）测量，以表征这些仿生粘合材料。最终目标是发现和定义新的粘合剂和涂层策略和方法，以实现定制的特性，这些特性可以融入合成聚合物中，以实现坚固和适应性强的粘合。该计划在表面和界面科学与工程的前沿工作，将在微观，纳米和分子水平上产生新的知识，这些知识对化学品和材料以及生物医学应用具有技术意义，并为高素质的人才提供急需的多学科培训，这将提高我们加拿大经济的竞争力，造福人类。

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.