Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : September 05, 2021 - September 08, 2021
Because the micro/nano-scale structures of the living things have various functions, the micro/nano-scale structures have been attracting a lot of attention. In some terrestrial organisms, nano-scale structure (nipple-array) is considered to act as the self-cleaning surface by reducing adhesion force. Some aquatic organisms, such as ascidians, also have nipple array on their body surface, but few studies measure the adhesion force of the nipple-arrays in a submerged environment like the sea. Therefore, we aim to measure the adhesion force of the nipple-array in water, in order to evaluate the functional properties of the nano-structures on the ascidian surface and to consider their biomimetic applications. In this study, for simplifying, we measured the adhesion force of a synthetic nipple array, MOSMITETM, and a flat surface. The adhesion force was measured with an atomic force microscope and the measurements were carried out in the water. The adhesion force of the MOSMITETM (1.3 ± 0.3 nN) was smaller than that of the flat (4.6 ± 0.4 nN). These results indicate that the nipple-array reduces the adhesion force more in the water compared with the flat surface.
