South Korea’s breakthrough adhesive patch draws inspiration from octopus’s tentacles
Patch can also be used repeatedly, with one patch surviving more than 10,000 cycles of attachment and detachment
The clinging power of octopus tentacles has inspired a breakthrough new adhesive patch that works on wet and oily surfaces with potentially huge medical and industrial uses, according to South Korean researchers.
Octopuses are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates, but it was their extreme strength that attracted the interest of the research team from Sungkyunkwan University.
“Two years ago, we bought an octopus from a Lotte Supermarket, put its suction cups under a microscope and analysed how they worked,” researcher Baik Sang-yul said.
The team found the octopus’ impressive suction power was thanks to small balls inside the suction cups that line each of their tentacles.
The new “wet-tolerant” adhesive patch has been hailed as a breakthrough by the country’s science and technology ministry and there are hopes it will be able to be used for everything from heavy industry to dressing wounds.
Professor Pang Chang-hyun said they had managed to fabricate polymer patches covered with micro suction cups with suction patch so strong that a patch the size of a thumbnail could lift an object of up to 400 grams in water.