Two sides in one coin: Emerging biomimetic multistage ordered microstructure-based adhesion and microfluidics

Bionic structures significantly influence the design of intelligent sensing patches, particularly through biomimetic microstructures. These microstructures enhance adhesion by forming robust microscale connections while maintaining macroscale stability. The porous nature of these materials facilitates liquid flow, enabling their use in microfluidic devices. This structural adhesion minimizes contamination, improving microfluidic signal accuracy. Despite these advantages, challenges remain in maintaining performance under high humidity, oil contamination, and extreme temperatures. Additionally, integrating biomimetic structures with microfluidic systems poses scalability and complexity obstacles. Numerous studies have focused on bionic adhesion in health-monitoring systems, examining material composition, adhesion mechanisms, and isolated microfluidic applications, but a comprehensive review addressing the synergistic contributions of multistage bionic structures to both adhesion and microfluidic performance is lacking. This paper reviews recent advancements in multistage bionic structures for adhesion and microfluidic integration, focusing on design improvements and potential applications. It analyzes the impact of common, composite, and multilevel ordered structures on adhesion and microfluidic properties. Finally, this study highlights the potential of these innovations to guide future research in the development of efficient, scalable, and multifunctional bionic systems for industrial and biomedical applications.