Researchers ‘get rough’ with nanomaterials to eliminate problematic stickiness caused by smooth surfaces

The smaller the object, especially at the atomic or subatomic level, the stranger it behaves. For example, as technological devices become smaller and smaller, the even smaller parts are more prone to adhesion or “stickiness.” When small-size parts come into contact, they spontaneously stick together and cannot easily be pulled apart. However, recent research at the University of Pittsburgh may “unstick” the problem and improve the next generation of microdevices increasingly used in everyday life.