CHAPTER 14: Bio‐inspired Adhesive Surfaces: From Principles to Applications Check Access

In the last decade, bio‐inspired adhesives have gained much attention both by science and industry, because of their unique properties: High adhesion, easy detachment, residue‐free contact and self‐cleaning properties. The effort of biologists, chemists, physicists, materials scientists and engineers, of theoreticians and experimentalists, has led to a good understanding of the principles of bio‐inspired adhesion. Fundamental research on bio‐inspired adhesives is still developing strongly, but more and more effort is put into applied research. Topics such as switchable adhesives, biomedical bio‐inspired adhesive pads or large‐scale fabrication techniques suggest that the time is near when the technology found in nature will be available in modern products. In our chapter, we give an overview of the research into bio‐inspired adhesives based on the adhesion system of geckos.