title: Microscopic pillars and tubes fabricated by using fish dentine as a molding template.
abstract: Biomaterials in nature exhibit delicate structures that are greatly beyond the capability of the current manufacturing techniques. Duplicating these structures and applying them in engineering may help enhance the performance of traditional functional materials and structures. Inspired by gecko's hierarchical micro- and nano-fibrillar structures for adhesion, in this work we fabricated micro-pillars and tubes by adopting the tubular dentine of black carp fish teeth as molding template. The adhesion performances of the fabricated micro-pillars and tubes were characterized and compared. It was found that the pull-off force of a single pillar was about twice of that of the tube with comparable size. Such unexpected discrepancy in adhesion was analyzed based on the contact mechanics theories.
authors.affiliation: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China. david.w.li@connect.polyu.hk.
authors.forename: Weiqun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China. xwliu5-c@my.cityu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China. yanglu@cityu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China. mmhyao@polyu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Haimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D000269:Adhesives / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D032701:Biomimetics; D002347:Carps; D003804:Dentin / Q000737:chemistry*; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000269:Adhesives