Mussel‐Inspired Alternating Copolymer as a High‐Performance Adhesive Material Both at Dry and Under‐Seawater Conditions

• Published in: Macromolecular rapid communications. Vol. 41; no. 10; pp. e2000055 - n/a
• Main Authors: Sha, Xinyi, Zhang, Changxu, Qi, Meiwei, Zheng, Longhui, Cai, Beike, Chen, Feng, Wang, Yuling, Zhou, Yongfeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.05.2020
• Subjects: Adhesives; Adhesives - chemical synthesis; Adhesives - chemistry; alternating copolymers; Animals; Biomimetic Materials - chemical synthesis; Biomimetic Materials - chemistry; Bisphenol A; Bivalvia; Bonding strength; Catechol; Chemical synthesis; Click Chemistry; Copolymers; Dopamine; Glass substrates; Hot pressing; Molecular Structure; Mollusks; Monomers; Mussels; Polymers; Polymers - chemical synthesis; Polymers - chemistry; Seawater; Seawater - chemistry; Stainless steel; Stainless steels; Underwater; catechol; mussels; adhesives; alternating copolymers
• ISSN: 1022-1336; 1521-3927; 1521-3927
• DOI: 10.1002/marc.202000055

Marine mussels have the ability to cling to various surfaces at wet or underwater conditions, which inspires the research of catechol‐functionalized polymers (CFPs) to develop high‐performance adhesive materials. However, these polymeric adhesives generally face the problems of complex synthetic route, and it is still high challenging to prepare CFPs with excellent adhesive performance both at dry and underwater conditions. Herein, a mussel‐inspired alternating copolymer, poly(dopamine‐alt‐2,2‐bis(4‐glycidyloxyphenyl)propane) (P(DA‐a‐BGOP)), is synthesized in one step by using commercially available monomers through epoxy‐amino click chemistry. The incorporation of polar groups and rigid bisphenol A structures into the polymer backbone enhances the cohesion energy of polymer matrix. The alternating polymer structure endows the polymers with high catechol content and controlled polymer sequence. As a result, P(DA‐a‐BGOP) exhibits a strong bonding strength as high as 16.39 ± 2.13 MPa on stainless steel substrates after a hot pressing procedure and displays a bonding strength of 1.05 ± 0.05 MPa on glass substrates at an under‐seawater condition, which surpasses most commercial adhesives. A mussel‐inspired alternating copolymer is synthesized by commercially available monomers via epoxy‐amino click chemistry. The polymers have the advantages of facile synthesis, high catechol content, and rigid bisphenol A moieties, which shows excellent adhesive performance with dry‐state bonding strength of 16.39 ± 2.13 MPa on stainless steel, and under‐seawater bonding strength of 1.05 ± 0.05 MPa on glass substrates.