Bio-inspired Hierarchical Microsuckers for Dry-Wet Amphibious Adhesion

Abstract

While biomimetic suction cups have been broadly implemented in diverse fields including soft robotics, intelligent equipment, and precision manufacturing, current research efforts are predominantly directed at improving adhesion performance in isolated dry or underwater environments, with scarce attention paid to achieving consistent, full-scenario stable adhesion of suction cups across wet/dry amphibious conditions. Herein, we developed a hierarchical microsucker system with polyampholyte hydrogel for high-performance wet/dry amphibious adhesion. This system, which synergizes the intrinsic dynamic ionic bonds of polyampholyte hydrogel with multi-stage negative pressure enhancement, achieves robust adhesion in both underwater and dry conditions. The normal adhesion force of the hierarchical microsuckers is 1.82 times (wet state) and 1.88 times (dry state) higher than those of single-level microsuckers, respectively. Furthermore, this hierarchical polyampholyte hydrogel microsuckers can be integrated as a functional adhesive layer for robotic dexterous hands, enabling reliable grasping of objects on rough surfaces in complex underwater environments. This work provides a novel strategy for cross-medium robotic dexterous hand applications.

Keywords

Bio-inspired / Hierarchical microsucker / Polyampholyte hydrogel / Amphibious adhesion

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