Reversible Smart Glue Inspired by Mussels

Innovation: Academia

Michigan Technological University

2020

Image: Anonymous. / Unsplash / CC BY SA - Creative Commons Attribution + ShareAlike

Attach Temporarily

Living systems must sometimes, temporarily, stay in one place, climb or otherwise move around, or hold things together. This entails attaching temporarily with the ability to release, which minimizes energy and material use. Some living systems repeatedly attach, detach, and reattach for an extended time, such as over their lifetimes. Despite being temporary, these attachments must withstand physical and other forces until they have achieved their purpose. Therefore, living systems have adapted attachment mechanisms optimized for the amount of time or number of times they must be used. An example is the gecko, which climbs walls by attaching its toes for less than a second. Other examples include insects that attach their eggs to a leaf until they hatch, and insects whose wings temporarily attach during flight but separate after landing.

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Modify Electric Charge

Harnessing the power of electricity can be a powerful way for organisms to get energy. An electric charge can be positive or negative. When matter with an electric charge is near other charged particles, it will either be ‘repulsed’ or ‘attracted’ to the matter based on the charge. From electric eels to oriental hornets, learn about the different ways organisms use electric charges to their advantage.

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Underwater smart glue from Michigan Technological University is made of a catechol-containing material that can unstick using an electric current.

Benefits

Reversible
Versatile
Controllable

Applications

Medical treatment
Medical implants

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 9: Industry Innovation & Infrastructure

The Challenge

Current smart glue technologies use pH changes in solution to stick and unstick. Due to the monitoring and maintenance required, it costs more to control and objects cannot “unstick” without human intervention.

Innovation Details

The underwater smart glue uses an electrical current to turn off the adhesion of a catechol-containing material. Catechol is a synthetic that is able to bind to wet surfaces and mimics the protein that mussels use to attach to rocks underwater. The use of electrical currents to deactivate the adhesion means the process could one day be controlled with the press of a button.

Biological Model

Marine mussels have fibers known as byssal threads that can attach to a variety of surfaces underwater. These fibers stick to the rock with a mussel-produced adhesive comparable in strength to human-made glues but without carcinogens, such as formaldehyde. The mussel glue can also cure under water.

See Related Strategy

Biological Strategy

Mussels Hold On With Fancy Footwork

Common mussel

Mussel byssal threads attach to wet rocks using adhesive proteins that first prime their surfaces and then chemically bind to them.

References

Journal article

In Situ Deactivation of Catechol-Containing Adhesive Using Electrochemistry

ACS Publications

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