Reusable, Dry Adhesive Material Utilizing Vertically Aligned Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Array

A novel dry adhesive is being developed that can mimic the hairs on a gecko's foot using vertically aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube (CNT) array. The use of CNT array as dry adhesive material allows reproducing biological adhesion structures and generates fairly strong adhesion strength (over 100 N per centimeter square). CNTs are known to have extraordinary mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. This adhesive can be bent repeatedly with large deflection without failure, which intrinsically results in a reusable or re-attachable dry adhesive. The highly hydrophobic property of CNTs makes them free from the clumping problem, which the polymer based synthetic hair structures face. This product's adhesion is so effective it can be directly applied to glass.