What would it be like to have the grip of a gecko’s feet? And how can humans emulate that superpower? The question sparked Capella Kerst’s curiosity.
Ultimately, it led the former Stanford researcher to found Gecko Materials, an award-winning startup that makes adhesive material inspired by geckos.
Kerst, 33, told EpochTV’s “Bay Area Innovators” program that the day after she completed her Ph.D. in 2021, she started her company, working out of her mother’s garage.
“I wanted to start a company when I was very young,” Kerst said.
“I want to have my own business, and I want to make a difference and help change people’s lives for the better.”
Among other goals, she hoped to make overseas manufacturing more energy efficient and bring some manufacturing back to the United States.
Gecko Materials produces a reusable dry adhesive with super sticky properties. One square-inch of the material is capable of supporting 15 pounds, and six of the square-inch tiles can pull a car.
“Gecko Materials is the next industrial Velcro at the very basic form,” Kerst explained. “It’s a one-sided material that has micro hairs that are pulled in shear to create an extremely strong force, namely the Van der Waals force. It’s an attraction between two surfaces. And our Gecko Materials can hold on to smooth and micro smooth surfaces.”
Kerst explained that her concept originated with one of her Ph.D. advisers, Mark Cutkosky, a pioneer in the field of biomimicry, which studies nature and applies its strategies—like how geckos walk on vertical surfaces—to solving human problems.
Over 20 years ago, Kerst said, Cutkosky collaborated in a biomimicry study involving the acrobatic lizards. The researchers found that geckos do not rely on excretion or suction to climb on smooth, vertical surfaces, but on tiny micro-hooks.
“They’re actually these little hairs that, when pulled in shear, create an extremely strong force,” she said.
According to Kerst, Gecko Materials can be reused over 120,000 times, compared to 2,000 times for ordinary Velcro fasteners.
The adhesive leaves no residue and can be used in any barometric environment, including a vacuum chamber. The company’s products are being used by the International Space Station as well as private spaceflight companies.
Kerst is not the first to produce a gecko-inspired dry adhesive. The concept has been researched for years, Kerst said in her Ph.D. thesis. However, “there remain few practical applications of the technology.”
One reason for this is that the adhesives are difficult to mass produce and until recently have mostly been fabricated on a small scale.
Kerst posited in her thesis that if the adhesives could be manufactured at high volume and in a cost-effective manner, they, like Velcro, would find a wide range of applications, “spurring further refinement and differentiation of the technology.”
That is what Kerst set out to do. Today, she works with companies in both public and private sectors, and has clients in the automotive, semiconductor, and drone industries.
The entrepreneur said she was very blessed to have faith to guide her in her company’s ups and downs. God opened doors for her, she said, and she is grateful to have received investor funding so quickly and easily.
She also credits her mother, who has been “endlessly supportive” of her daughter’s adventures. Kerst recalled that her mother told her: “Whatever you do, as long as you love what you do, I support you.”
Her ultimate dream is for Gecko Materials to become a household name.
“Hey, honey, can you go to, you know, Safeway or Walmart or Lowe’s or Home Depot and pick up some Gecko Materials we ran out of at home"—just really integrating in people’s lives to make a difference and make attachment. It’s easier and more sustainable,” Kerst said.
For those in the younger generation who want to start their own companies, Kerst offers advice on how to compete in the San Francisco Bay area.
“If you’re passionate and you’re solving a real pain point and problem for a customer, go for it,” she said.
“I would say never shy away from starting a company if you feel that deep fire, you know, deep in your soul.”
