The remarkable properties of the gecko adhesive system have been intensively studied. Although many gecko‐inspired synthetic adhesives have been designed and fabricated, few manage to capture the multifunctionality of the natural system. Analogous to previously documented self‐cleaning, recent work demonstrated that gecko toe pads dry when geckos take steps on dry substrates (i.e., self‐drying). Whether digital hyperextension (DH), the distal to proximal peeling of gecko toe pads, is involved in the self‐drying process, had not been determined. Here, the effect of DH on self‐drying was isolated by preventing DH from occurring during normal walking locomotion of Gekko gecko after toe pads were wetted. Our initial analysis revealed low statistical power, so we increased our sample size to determine the robustness of our result. We found that neither DH nor the DH–substrate interaction had a significant effect on the maximum shear adhesive force after self‐drying. These results suggest that DH is not necessary for self‐drying to occur. Interestingly, however, we discovered that shear adhesion is higher on a surface tending hydrophobic compared to a hydrophilic surface, demonstrating that gecko adhesion is sensitive to substrate wettability during the subdigital pad drying process. Furthermore, we also observed frequent damage to the adhesive system during shear adhesion testing post‐drying, indicating that water may compromise the structural integrity of the adhesive structures. Our results not only have behavioral and ecological implications for free‐ranging geckos but also have the potential to influence the design and fabrication of gecko‐inspired synthetic adhesives that can regain adhesion after fouling with water.

中文翻译：

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数字化过度伸展对壁虎粘合剂亚数字化垫的主动自干没有影响。

壁虎粘合剂体系的卓越性能已得到深入研究。尽管已设计和制造出许多受壁虎启发的合成胶粘剂，但很少能设法捕捉到天然系统的多功能性。与以前记录的自清洁类似，最近的工作表明，当壁虎在干燥的基材上踩踏时，壁虎脚趾垫会变干（即，自干燥）。尚未确定数字超伸（DH）（壁虎脚趾垫的从远端到近端剥离）是否参与自干过程。在这里，通过防止壁虎正常行走过程中发生DH，从而分离出DH对自干的影响脚垫弄湿后。我们的初步分析显示出较低的统计能力，因此我们增加了样本量，以确定结果的稳健性。我们发现，DH和DH与底物之间的相互作用都不会对自干后的最大剪切粘合力产生显着影响。这些结果表明，DH并不是发生自干的必要条件。然而，有趣的是，我们发现与亲水性表面相比，在趋于疏水性的表面上剪切粘附力更高，这表明壁虎粘附力在亚数位垫干燥过程中对基材的润湿性敏感。此外，我们还观察到干燥后的剪切粘合力测试期间，粘合剂体系经常受损，这表明水可能会损害粘合剂结构的结构完整性。