Biotribological model systems for emerging nanometer scale technologies

Abstract

Technological devices such as pressure sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers get smaller and smaller. This increases the necessity for the fundamental understanding of tribological phenomena at the micro- and nanometer scale. Biological systems excel also at this scale. The thesaurus that nature has developed during the last millions of years of evolution comprises self-cleaning surfaces, systems with friction coefficients smaller than any occurring in man-made systems and organisms that produce macromolecules with ice binding properties. Such systems with well adapted biotribological properties shall serve as inspiration for innovation in micro- and nanotechnology.