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Adhesion, Adsorption and Friction : Are Surface Phenomena Superficial ?
As adhesion is a key issue for researchers of various fields, it is of uppermost importance to understand the parameters that are involved. Commonly, only surface parameters are employed to determine the adhesive forces between materials. Yet, van der Waals forces act not only between atoms in the vicinity of the surface, but also between atoms in the bulk material. In this contribution, the principles of van der Waals interactions will be described and experimental and theoretical studies investigating the influence of the subsurface material on adhesion will be outlined. Adhesion experiments range from nm-thin protein films over bacteria (µm-range) to cm-sized Geckos and were performed by AFM, ellipsometry and x-ray reflectometry.