Patent ID: 8635749

Claim:
An adhesive system comprising: a first adhesive element comprising a flexible material, the element having a surface including an array of tapered protrusions thereon; a second adhesive element having a surface including an array of tapered protrusions or tapered grooves thereon, wherein the arrays of tapered protrusions or tapered grooves of the first and second adhesive elements have a periodicity that is substantially complementary, wherein contacting the first adhesive element with the second adhesive element results in a substantial interleaving of the tapered protrusions with the tapered protrusions or tapered grooves to provide a reversible adhesive interaction of about 1 N/cm 2 to about 100 N/cm 2 between the first and second adhesive elements, wherein contacting either of the first or second adhesive elements with an inert surface results in an adhesive interaction having a force per unit area of less than 50% of the adhesive interaction with a substantially complementary adhesive element, and wherein one or more liquids are present between the first and second arrays.