Scientists Develop Super Adhesive Inspired by Snail Slime

Scientists develop reversible super-adhesive inspired by snail mucus, which allows them to stick to rough rock-like surfaces through a secreted mucosa. Researchers at Pennsylvania University, Lehigh University and Korea Institute of Science and Technology have announced that they have created a super-adhesive-like material inspired by snail mucus. The research team, noting that adhesives generally consist of two classes, stated that these are strong but irreversible adhesives (like super-adhesives) and weak but reversible and reusable adhesives. Anand Jagota, Professor and Founding Chair of the Bioengineering Department at Lehigh University, said, "Achieving both strong adhesion and reversibility (the ability to reverse adhesion) is difficult." However, the team succeeded in overcoming these limitations and published their findings at the National Academy of Sciences in a paper titled "Intrinsically Reversible Super-Adhesives Through Shape Adaptation Inspired by Snail Epiframe." The team stated that the softened gel they created adapts to the target surface through low-energy deformation and then locks upon drying in a manner similar to the movement of the snail's epiframe. They noted that the epiframe is a temporary structure created by snails and mollusks that retains moisture as long as it is not made of dried mucus, enabling snails to stick to rock-like surfaces. Jagota said, "By combining the benefits of liquid and dry adhesives in a single material, we report a hydrogel-based, reversible, super-adhesive-like adhesive." Shu Yang, Professor of Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Science at Pennsylvania University, said, "In this system, we have shown that the adhesion force is based on the material's internal surface, particularly properties near the surface, providing reversibility and ease of scaling for practical applications." Scientists explain that reversible super-strong adhesion can be made from an unstructured material when the shape adaptation criterion is met with minimal residual strain energy stored in the system. According to researchers, the new material can be applied to both flat and rough target surfaces.