There are two important bio-inspired adhesives which have received great interest recently: mussel-inspired 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine (DOPA) containing adhesive and Gecko-foot-hair-inspired adhesive. This preprint presents two methods that enhance the adhesion of both bio-inspired adhesives. The first method is the optimization of the viscoelastic properties of polymeric DOPA-containing adhesives using crosslinking agents. When a DOPA-containing bio-inspired adhesive was covalently crosslinked by 0.001 % of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, the adhesion property was enhanced 3 times with 50mN preload, under dry conditions. The adhesion improvement occurred due to a suitable balance between viscous, and elastic character of the polymeric adhesive. The second method is an individual DOPA-containing bio-inspired adhesive coating technique. This process allows the coating to be applied to the surface of mushroom tipped Gecko-foot-hair-inspired micro-structured adhesive. The coating process includes micro-printing following photopolymerization of dopamine methacrylamide, and 2-methoxyethyl acrylate. The coated micro-structured adhesive demonstrated adhesion improvement in both dry and wet conditions

Enhancing the performance of Bio-inspired adhesives

240th National Meeting (2010)

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