Influence of surface roughness on gecko adhesion

In this study we show the influence of surface roughness on gecko adhesion on both the nano- and macroscales. We present experimental data for the force necessary to pull off single spatulae from hard rough substrates and also detail observations on living geckos clinging to various surfaces. Both experiments consistently show that the effective adhesion shows a minimum for a root mean square roughness ranging from 100 to 300 nm. (c) 2007 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.