Aphid-inspired and thermally-actuated soft gripper using three-dimensional printing technology.

Herein, we report a thermo-actuated aphid-inspired dry adhesive that offers tunable and reversible adhesion. It is easily fabricated through three-dimensional printing using a polylactic acid filament and silicone elastomer, avoiding the use of unfavorable methods for micro- and nano-fabrication and unwanted particles for actuation. The tunable adhesive system mimics aphid biology to achieve adhesion switchability. Switching between adhesion states is enabled by the thermo-actuated polylactic acid, which has shape memory properties. Additionally, silicone elastomer enables adherence to flat substrates such as glass, silicon wafers, and acryl. The detachment time of the thermo-actuated aphid-inspired dry adhesive can be controlled by changing the printing layer height, which is a three-dimensional-printing parameter that results in a short detachment time when the printing layer height is small. The adhesion strength was measured by applying different preloads and varying the size of the adhesive area. We also demonstrated the reversibility between the adhesion-on and adhesion-off states, revealing good repeatability with similar adhesion strengths. The thermo-actuated aphid-inspired dry adhesive has potential applications in transferring silicon wafers. In addition, it can be printed to fit a flat plate of any shape, enabling it to grip the plate stably. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.