From Dry to Wet, the Nature Inspired Strong Attachment Surfaces and Their Medical Applications

Abstract

Strong attachment in complicated human body environments is of great importance for precision medicine especially with the rapid growth of minimal invasive surgery and flexible electronics. Natural organisms with highly evolved feet or claws can easily climb in complex environments from dry to wet and even underwater, providing significant inspiration for strong attachment research. This review summarizes the strong attachment behaviors of natural creatures in varied environments such as the gecko, tree frog, and octopus. Their attachment surfaces’ complex micronano structures and material properties exhibit evolutionary adaptations that enable them to transition across dry, wet, and underwater environments, highlighting the intricate mechanism of interfacial micronano dynamic behaviors. The interfacial liquid/air media regulation and contact stress adjustment from the coupling effects of surface structures and materials have been concluded as key factors in natural strong attachments. With the bioinspired strong attachment surface design, manufacturing methods including mold-assisted replication, nano 3D printing, self-assembly and field induced molding have been discussed. Finally, applications of bioinspired surfaces in low damage surgical instruments, tissue repair and flexible electronics have been demonstrated.