Here is an adhesive that you can wash in a flood of water — it will still remain sticky. Such is this engineered material.

Watching lizards scampering on walls, Prof Animangu Ghatak, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Kanpur, wondered how the pads in the reptile’s feet never lose their adhesiveness. That led him to develop a mat with nanoscopic pyramidal bumps on its surface that are capable of attracting dust particles. If you step on it, it will absorb the dust particles on your shoe soles. Once the adhesive is saturated with particulate matter, you just wash it. The surface maintains its stickiness. This mat can be used in ICUs of hospitals, clean rooms, facilities housing sophisticated equipment and as a component of air filters. The product is yet to be commercialised. When it comes to the market, we’ll know how it sticks with customers.

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