Syntheticdryadhesivesinspiredbythenano-andmicro-scalehairsfoundonthefeetofgeckosandsomespidershavebeendevelopedforalmostadecade.Elastomericsinglelevelmicro-scalemushroomshapedfibresarecurrentlyabletofunctionevenbetterthannaturaldryadhesivesonsmoothsurfacesundernormalloading.However,theadhesionofthesesinglelevelsyntheticdryadhesivesonroughsurfacesisstillnotoptimalbecauseofthereducedcontactsurfacearea.Innature,contactareaismaximizedbyhierarchicallystructuringdifferentscalesoffibrescapableofconformingsurfaceroughness.Inthispaper,weadaptthenature’ssolutionaridproposeanoveldual-levelhierarchicaladhesivedesignusingPolydimethylsiloxane(PDMS),whichistestedunderpeelloadingatdifferentorientations.Anegativemacro-scalemoldismanufacturedbyusingalasercuttertodefineholesinaPoly(methylmethacrylate)(PMMA)plate.AftercastingPDMSmacro-scalefibresbyusingtheobtainedPMMAmold,apreviouslypreparedmicro-fibreadhesiveisbondedtothemacro-scalefibresubstrate.Oncethebondingpolymeriscured,themicro-fibreadhesiveiscuttoformmacroscalemushroomcaps.Eachmacro-fibreoftheresultinghierarchicaladhesiveisabletoconformtoloadsappliedindifferentdirections.Thedual-levelstructureenhancesthepeelstrengthonsmoothsurfacescomparedtoasingle-leveldryadhesive,butalsoweakenstheshearstrengthoftheadhesiveforagivenareaincontact.Theadhesiveappearstobeveryperformancesensitivetothespecificsizeofthefibretips,andexperimentsindicatethatdesigninghierarchicalstructuresisnotassimpleasplacingmultiplescalesoffibresontopofoneanother,butcanrequiresignificantdesignoptimizationtoenhancethecontactmechanicsandadhesionstrength.
