Gecko’s feet the inspiration for reusable Geckskin adhesive
A team of scientists at the University of Massachusetts in the United States has developed a new, reusable adhesive based on the feet of the gecko. Around 60 per cent of gecko species have adhesive toe pads and these pads were the inspiration for Geckskin - a device that can attach and detach from materials and surfaces repeatedly.
A team of scientists at the University of Massachusetts in the United States has developed a new, reusable adhesive based on the feet of the gecko.
Led by professors Al Crosby and Duncan Irschick, the team designed Geckskin for performance - you can suspend up to 320kg in weight from a glass-smooth vertical surface with a 10cm by 10cm patch.
It can be made from everyday items such as nylon, bathroom caulking, carbon fibre or cotton. Most things adhere to it and it adheres to most things.
Crosby and Irschick say it's not about making a new material but making old materials perform in new ways.
Geckskin is detachable and attachable. Its inventors stress its high weight capacity. Maths is what stops a TV you are hanging up from crashing down.
"Geckskin is built around three parts - pad, skin and tendon," Crosby said. "The way we configure the tendon and the skin allows us to design how it will be removed - so there will only be one mechanism or one twist that will take off the pad. Everything else would be stabilised.
