Waterproof Adhesive Inspired by Brown Algae and Marine Mussels

Innovation: Academia

University of Waterloo

2018

Image: Diego Catto / 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.

Search this Function

Adhesive from University of Waterloo is a novel hydrogel composite that can bond dissimilar materials while submerged in water.

Benefits

Versatile
Improved performance

Applications

Manufacturing
Medical treatment

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 9: Industry Innovation & Infrastructure
Goal 12: Responsible Production & Consumption
Goal 13: Climate Action

Bioutilization

Alginate

The Challenge

Adhesives are used many industries and are essential to everyday life. However, traditional adhesives are single-use and often leave a sticky residue once removed. Additionally, many adhesives quickly lose their effectiveness when wet.

Innovation Details

The adhesive is a hydrogel composite glue formed from separate adhesive and precursors. One of the components is a non-adhesive polymer called alginate. Instead of forming chemical bonds, the components form a network during application by coordinating with ferric ions. The sequential deposition of precursors outperformed the direct mixing of components before application. Through this process, the adhesive can bond dissimilar materials completely submerged in water.

Biomimicry Story

Marine mussels have byssal threads that attach to a various surfaces underwater using adhesive proteins that overcome the surface’s attraction to water molecules. Additionally, algae use a sequential deposition to effectively attach to surfaces.

See Related Content

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

Algae–mussel-inspired hydrogel composite glue for underwater bonding

Materials Horizons

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