• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.366-366
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• 2016

Nanoscale observation of attachment systems of animals has revealed various exquisite multiscale architectures for essential functions such as gecko's locomotion, beetles' wing fixation, octopuses' sucking and crawling. In particular, the hierarchical 3-dimensional hexanonal nano-architectures in the tree frog's adhesion is known to have the capability of the enhancement of adhesion forces on the wet or rough surfaces due to the conformal contacts against rough surfaces and water-drainable micro channels. Here, we report that tree frog-inspired patches using unique artificial 3-dimensional hexagonal structures can be exploited to form reversibly enhanced adhesion against various highly curved and rough surfaces in dry and wet condition. To investigate the adhesion effect of micro-channels, we changed the arrangement of microstructure and spacing gaps between micro-channels. In addition, we introduced the 3-dimensional hexagonal hierarchical architectures to artificial patches to enhance to conformal contacts on the various rough surfaces such as skin and organs. Using the robust adhesion properties, we demonstrated the self-drainable and comfortable skin-attachable devices which can measure EKG (electrokardiogramme) for in-vitro diagnostics. As a result, bio-inspired programmable nano-architectures can be applied in versatile devices such as, medical patches, skin-attachable electronics etc., which would shed light on future smart, directional and reversible adhesion systems.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.282-287
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• 2022

High shear adhesion on wet and rough surfaces and tactile feedback of gripping forces are highly important for realizing robotic gripper systems. Here, we propose a bioinspired robotic gripper with highly shear adhesion and sensitive pressure sensor for tactile feedback systems. To achieve them, we fabricated multi-walled carbon nanotube sensing layer on a thin polymeric adhesive layer of polydimethylsiloxane. With densely hexagonal-packed microstructures, the pressure sensor achieved 9 times the sensing property of a sensor without microstructures. We then assembled hexagonal microstructures inspired by the toe pads of a tree frog, giving strong shear adhesion under both dry and wet surfaces such as silicon (42 kPa for dry and ~30 kPa for underwater conditions) without chemical-residues after detachment. Our robotic gripper can prevent damage to weak or smooth surfaces that can be damaged at low pressure through pressure signal feedback suggesting a variety of robotic applications.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.749-754
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• 2022

High adhesion and water resistance of the skin surface are required for wearable and skin-attachable electronic patches in various medical applications. In this study, we report a stretchable electronic patch that mimics the drainable structure pattern of the hexagonal channels of frog's pads and the sucker of an octopus based on carbon-based conductive polymer composite materials. The hexagonal channel structure that mimics the pads of frogs drains water and improves adhesion through crack arresting effect, and the suction structure that mimics an octopus sucker shows high adhesion on wet surfaces. In addition, the high-adhesive electronic patch has excellent adhesion to various surfaces such as silicone wafer (max. 4.06 N/cm²) and skin replica surface (max. 1.84 N/cm²) in dry and wet conditions. The high skin-adhesive electronic patch made of a polymer composite material based on a polymer matrix and carbon particles can reliably detect electrocardiogram (ECG) in dry and humid environments. The proposed electronic patch presents potential applications for wearable and skin-attachable electronic devices for detecting various biosignals.