Geckel Glue: Über Glue Developed From Nature

Glue like the kind that mussels use to glom onto rocks has been combined with the stickiness seen in gecko feet to form a new adhesive dubbed geckel that could one day bind wounds closed and help robots climb walls underwater.

Messersmith and his colleagues first imitated gecko foot hairs by fabricating arrays of silicone pillars each roughly 400 billionths of a meter across, or roughly the width of a wavelength of violet light. Next, they coated these flexible pillars with a very thin layer of a synthetic glue that mimics how mussel proteins work.

Messersmith suggested adhesive tapes of geckel could help close wounds without the use of sutures, or find use in water-resistant bandages or drug-delivery patches. "Also, they could be used in unmanned vehicles such as robotics for exploration, rescue and other activities in dry or wet environments where adhesion to surfaces is challenging," he told LiveScience.


SOURCE:
Live Science

A very interesting and potentially omniuseful technological development.

I always sort of thought that an adhesive based on Geckos would come about,
and also that other similar developments based on other species would as well,
though I never expected something using two of them to be created, at least not so soon.

I can imagine the things this would be useful for apart from what's mentioned,
definite covert ops and spying uses, as well as many commercial ones.

I can just imagine some sort of clothes or gear designed with this built in that would allow
people to climb walls, sort of like Spiderman.


Comments, Opinions?

Close wounds... I like that, no stitches!

If it's that sticky, how would you climb a wall with it? Wouldn't it be a bit too strong for you to pull back off? .... Thinking about it, what if you can't even get it off your skin

How long would the adhesive last? Possible duct tape replacement?

-BR

Originally posted by Bumr055
If it's that sticky, how would you climb a wall with it? Wouldn't it be a bit too strong for you to pull back off? .... Thinking about it, what if you can't even get it off your skin

Well Gecko's appear to have control over the tiny little fingers that allow them to climb walls,
so I assume they have a basic chemical control to it.

As with everything I'm sure there is a solvent as well, like for the times you glue the
hammer to your leg, the 2x4 to your left hand and your hand to the phone and the phone to your face.

How long would the adhesive last? Possible duct tape replacement?
-BR

I'm not sure, I don't think they mentioned it, but I'm assuming it would depend,
like which variation of the product you have, since the kind for skin is going to last between
a few days and a few months but for more industrial scales it would need to last longer.