Abstract Gecko-inspired adhesives are one of the most promising forms of controllable adhesives for a wide range of applications, especially robotic gripping, perching, and climbing. One impediment to the technology's success is the negative effect of dust and other contaminants, which can significantly decrease adhesion in real-world environments. Previous work has shown that electrostatic forces were capable of removing adhered dust on the surface of gecko-inspired adhesives and that a two-phase square wave input to the electrostatic element with the lowest possible frequency produced the highest cleaning efficiency. In this work, dust particle size, electrode geometry (electrode width and gap), duty cycle of the exciting wave, peak-peak voltage of the electrodes, and the thickness of dielectric layer (the gecko-inspired microstructures) are evaluated experimentally and in simulation. Moreover, three possible electrostatic particle removal mechanisms were modeled to explain their relative importance: repulsion, sliding, and rolling. Results indicate that the highest cleaning efficiency for all particle sizes occurs with the highest possible peak-peak voltage when the electrode width and gap are 400 μm and 300 μm, respectively. The results also show the highest cleaning efficiencies are produced using a duty cycle of 50 % on the thinnest samples of the gecko-inspired microstructures, where electrodes are closer to particles. Finally, particle sliding and particle rolling are the dominant factors in electrostatic cleaning of gecko-inspired adhesives, while particle repulsion plays a limited role.

中文翻译：

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优化静电清洁以去除壁虎式粘合剂的灰尘

摘要 受壁虎启发的粘合剂是最有前途的可控粘合剂形式之一，其应用范围很广，尤其是机器人抓握、栖息和攀爬。该技术成功的一个障碍是灰尘和其他污染物的负面影响，它们会显着降低现实环境中的附着力。先前的工作表明，静电力能够去除壁虎式粘合剂表面上粘附的灰尘，并且以尽可能低的频率输入到静电元件的两相方波产生最高的清洁效率。在这项工作中，灰尘颗粒大小、电极几何形状（电极宽度和间隙）、激发波的占空比、电极的峰峰值电压、介电层的厚度（受壁虎启发的微结构）通过实验和模拟进行评估。此外，对三种可能的静电颗粒去除机制进行建模以解释它们的相对重要性：排斥、滑动和滚动。结果表明，当电极宽度和间隙分别为 400 μm 和 300 μm 时，所有颗粒尺寸的最高清洁效率都出现在可能的最高峰峰值电压下。结果还表明，在最薄的壁虎微结构样品上使用 50% 的占空比产生最高的清洁效率，其中电极更接近颗粒。最后，颗粒滑动和颗粒滚动是壁虎粘合剂静电清洁的主要因素，而颗粒排斥作用有限。