Hydrogel tapes for fault-tolerant strong wet adhesion

Bin Xue, Jie Gu, Lan Li, Wenting Yu, Sheng Yin, Meng Qin, Qing Jiang (), Wei Wang () and Yi Cao ()
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Bin Xue: Nanjing University
Jie Gu: Nanjing University
Lan Li: Drum Tower Hospital affiliated to Medical School of Nanjing University
Wenting Yu: Nanjing University
Sheng Yin: Nanjing University
Meng Qin: Nanjing University
Qing Jiang: Drum Tower Hospital affiliated to Medical School of Nanjing University
Wei Wang: Nanjing University
Yi Cao: Nanjing University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Fast and strong bio-adhesives are in high demand for many biomedical applications, including closing wounds in surgeries, fixing implantable devices, and haemostasis. However, most strong bio-adhesives rely on the instant formation of irreversible covalent crosslinks to provide strong surface binding. Repositioning misplaced adhesives during surgical operations may cause severe secondary damage to tissues. Here, we report hydrogel tapes that can form strong physical interactions with tissues in seconds and gradually form covalent bonds in hours. This timescale-dependent adhesion mechanism allows instant and robust wet adhesion to be combined with fault-tolerant convenient surgical operations. Specifically, inspired by the catechol chemistry discovered in mussel foot proteins, we develop an electrical oxidation approach to controllably oxidize catechol to catecholquinone, which reacts slowly with amino groups on the tissue surface. We demonstrate that the tapes show fast and reversible adhesion at the initial stage and ultrastrong adhesion after the formation of covalent linkages over hours for various tissues and electronic devices. Given that the hydrogel tapes are biocompatible, easy to use, and robust for bio-adhesion, we anticipate that they may find broad biomedical and clinical applications.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27529-5

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