Recent advances in the fabrication and adhesion testing of biomimetic dry adhesives

In the past two years, there have been a large number of publications on the topic of biomimetic dry adhesives from modeling, fabrication and testing perspectives. We review and compare the most recent advances in fabrication and testing of these materials. While there is increased convergence and consensus as to what makes a good dry adhesive, the fabrication of these materials is still challenging, particularly for anisotropic or hierarchal designs. Although qualitative comparisons between different adhesive designs can be made, quantifying the exact performance and rating each design is significantly hampered by the lack of standardized testing methods. Manufacturing dry adhesives, which can reliably adhere to rough surfaces, show directional and self-cleaning behavior and are relatively simple to manufacture, is still very challenging—great strides by multiple research groups have however made these goals appear achievable within the next few years. (topical review)