Intrinsically reversible superglues via shape adaptation inspired by snail epiphragm

Adhesives are ubiquitous in daily life and industrial applications. They usually fall into one of two classes: strong but irreversible (e.g., superglues) or reversible/reusable but weak (e.g., pressure-sensitive adhesives and biological and biomimetic surfaces). Achieving both superstrong adhesion a...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 116; no. 28; pp. 13774 - 13779
Main Authors Cho, Hyesung, Wu, Gaoxiang, Jolly, Jason Christopher, Fortoul, Nicole, He, Zhenping, Gao, Yuchong, Jagota, Anand, Yang, Shu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 09.07.2019
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Subjects
Adhesion
Adhesive strength
Adhesives
Biomimetics
Deformation
Drying
Elastic deformation
Hydrogels
Industrial applications
intrinsically reversible
MATERIALS SCIENCE
Mechanical properties
Modulus of elasticity
Physical Sciences
polymer gels
Scaling
Science & Technology
shape adaptation
snail epiphragm
Snails
superstrong adhesion
Surface structure
Water
intrinsically reversible
polymer gels
superstrong adhesion
snail epiphragm
shape adaptation
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Summary:Adhesives are ubiquitous in daily life and industrial applications. They usually fall into one of two classes: strong but irreversible (e.g., superglues) or reversible/reusable but weak (e.g., pressure-sensitive adhesives and biological and biomimetic surfaces). Achieving both superstrong adhesion and reversibility has been challenging. This task is particularly difficult for hydrogels that, because their major constituent is liquid water, typically do not adhere strongly to any material. Here, we report a snail epiphragm-inspired adhesion mechanism where a polymer gel system demonstrates superglue-like adhesion strength (up to 892 N·cm−2) that is also reversible. It is applicable to both flat and rough target surfaces. In its hydrated state, the softened gel conformally adapts to the target surface by low-energy deformation, which is locked upon drying as the elastic modulus is raised from hundreds of kilopascals to ∼2.3 GPa, analogous to the action of the epiphragm of snails. We show that in this system adhesion strength is based on the material’s intrinsic, especially near-surface, properties and not on any near-surface structure, providing reversibility and ease of scaling up for practical applications.
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FG02-07ER46463
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Author contributions: H.C., G.W., J.C.J., A.J., and S.Y. designed research; H.C., G.W., J.C.J., N.F., Z.H., and Y.G. performed research; H.C., G.W., J.C.J., N.F., Z.H., Y.G., A.J., and S.Y. analyzed data; and H.C., G.W., J.C.J., N.F., Z.H., Y.G., A.J., and S.Y. wrote the paper.
1H.C., G.W., and J.C.J. contributed equally to this work.
Edited by Huajian Gao, Brown University, Providence, RI, and approved April 24, 2019 (received for review October 28, 2018)
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1818534116