Mussel-Inspired Adhesives and Coatings

Mussel-Inspired Adhesives and Coatings.

Mussels attach to solid surfaces in the sea. Their adhesion must be rapid, strong, and tough, or else they will be dislodged and dashed to pieces by the next incoming wave. Given the dearth of synthetic adhesives for wet polar surfaces, much effort has been directed to characterizing and mimicking essential features of the adhesive chemistry practiced by mussels. Studies of these organisms have...

High-performance mussel-inspired adhesives of reduced complexity.

Despite the recent progress in and demand for wet adhesives, practical underwater adhesion remains limited or non-existent for diverse applications. Translation of mussel-inspired wet adhesion typically entails catechol functionalization of polymers and/or polyelectrolytes, and solution processing of many complex components and steps that require optimization and stabilization. Here we reduced ...

Polymer Science Coatings and Adhesives

Gecko-InspIred polymer AdhesIves

The discovery of the gecko’s remarkable foot adhesion has provided a riddle for engineers and scientists to solve: how can an adhesive surface be selectively sticky, directional, remain clean, and work on almost any material? Gecko feet stick to almost anything, in almost any condition (including underwater and in space), but do not stick unintentionally, do not stick to dirt, and enable the ge...

Mussel-inspired hydrophobic coatings for water-repellent textiles and oil removal.

A series of catechol derivatives with a different number of linear alkyl chain substituents, and different length, have been shown to polymerize in the presence of aqueous ammonia and air, yielding hydrophobic coatings that present the ability to provide robust and efficient water repellency on weaved textiles, including hydrophilic cotton. The polymerization strategy presented exemplifies an a...