Jinhyung Kim1,Da Wan Kim1,2,Gui Won Hwang1,Hyeongho Min2,Jihyun Lee1,Dohyun Lim1,Tae-Heon Yang3,Changhyun Pang1,2
Sungkyunkwan university1,Sungkyunkwan University2,Korea National University of Transportation3
Jinhyung Kim1,Da Wan Kim1,2,Gui Won Hwang1,Hyeongho Min2,Jihyun Lee1,Dohyun Lim1,Tae-Heon Yang3,Changhyun Pang1,2
Sungkyunkwan university1,Sungkyunkwan University2,Korea National University of Transportation3
Polymeric adhesives, which are thin, soft and flexible, with skin conformal interfaces are attractive for haptic interface technology capable of transmitting sophisticated mechanical stimulation. However, conventional polymeric skin adhesives cannot maintain adequate shear adhesion to the haptic interface, such as repetitive vibrations or sweaty skin. Here, we report skin adhesive patches inspired by the hybrid architectures of frog toe pads’ water-drainable hexagonal arrays and snail pedal muscles’ energy dissipation layer with interlocked structures. Hybrid frog-snail-inspired adhesive (FSIA) patch exhibits remarkable shear adhesion in both dry and sweaty conditions (max. ∼36.0 kPa in dry conditions, and max. ∼26.8 kPa in sweaty conditions). Adhesion force enhanced by the stress distribution was analyzed as a simple theory based on the capillary, elastic, and dissipation stresses, and the finite element method simulation according to the geometric and material parameters. Furthermore, we showed that the microchannels between the hexagonal arrays effectively drains the liquid in sweaty conditions. Our patch could tolerate high-frequency vibrations (∼60 Hz) while maintaining vibrational transmissibility on even sweaty skin. For potential application, we demonstrated an integrated system combining skin-attachable patches with thin vibration actuators. Our haptic adhesion interface may establish new strategies for developing VR/AR technology.