Most commercially available soft tissue glues offer poor performance in the human body. We have developed an injectable adhesive whose setting mechanism is activated by a change in environmental factors, i.e., temperature and/or ionic strength. The material and setting process are inspired by the adhesive processing mechanism observed in natural maritime glues. Complex coacervation, a liquid-liquid phase separation between oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, is thought to play an important role in the processing. Complex coacervates are characterized by a high water content, which inevitably weakens the glue. Here, we aim to increase the adhesive performance by systematically tuning the water content. Among the several strategies here explored, the most effective one is the mechanical removal of water using an extruder, resulting in an increase of work of adhesion by 1 order of magnitude compared to the original formulation.

Enhancement of the Adhesive Properties by Optimizing the Water Content in PNIPAM-Functionalized Complex Coacervates

Zanetti, M;Bracco, P;
2020-01-01

Abstract

Most commercially available soft tissue glues offer poor performance in the human body. We have developed an injectable adhesive whose setting mechanism is activated by a change in environmental factors, i.e., temperature and/or ionic strength. The material and setting process are inspired by the adhesive processing mechanism observed in natural maritime glues. Complex coacervation, a liquid-liquid phase separation between oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, is thought to play an important role in the processing. Complex coacervates are characterized by a high water content, which inevitably weakens the glue. Here, we aim to increase the adhesive performance by systematically tuning the water content. Among the several strategies here explored, the most effective one is the mechanical removal of water using an extruder, resulting in an increase of work of adhesion by 1 order of magnitude compared to the original formulation.
2020
2
4
1722
1730
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsapm.0c00185
complex coacervation; water content; underwater adhesion; extrusion; bioinspired adhesives
Dompe, M; Vahdati, M; Van Ligten, F; Serrano, FJC; Hourdet, D; Creton, C; Zanetti, M; Bracco, P; van der Gucht, J; Kodger, T; Kamperman, M
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
acsapm.0c00185.pdf

Accesso aperto

Descrizione: pdf editoriale
Tipo di file: PDF EDITORIALE
Dimensione 2.05 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
2.05 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1742276
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 22
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 21
social impact