According to research done in Italy, Spiderman could have some competition for wall space from a new sticky superhero
Forget Spiderman, Geckoman is the stickiest superhero, at least so suggests research to be published in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.1
According to Nicola Pugno at the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy, the secret of making a sticky, yet non-stick, material could lie in creating a 'hierarchical structure' of branching bristles from ever finer carbon nanotubes.
Such a bristly material would mimic the physical properties of the gecko's feet, which allow the lizard to hang effortlessly by a single pad from even the smoothest of surfaces.
Pugno calculated that the hierarchical approach could lead to a stiff, non-tangling material with tips flexible enough for temporary adhesion.
References
- N. Pugno, J. Phys.: Condensed Matter, in press.
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