Issue 44, 2022

A humidity-resistant bio-inspired microfibrillar adhesive fabricated using a phenyl-rich polysiloxane elastomer for reliable skin patches

Abstract

Steady adhesion under varying humidity conditions is fundamentally challenging due to the barrier of interfacial water molecules. Here, we demonstrate a humidity-resistant gecko-inspired microfibrillar adhesive fabricated by using a specific phenyl-rich polysiloxane. In contrast with the great decline of macroadhesion with increasing humidity for the typical polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfibrillar adhesives, strong macroadhesion of a microfibrillar adhesive fabricated using synthetic phenyl-rich polysiloxane maintains adhesion well across a wide relative humidity range (1% to 95%). Moreover, the pull-off strength is increased by 500% compared to that of phenyl-absent PDMS microfibrillar adhesives at extremely high humidity. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that the synergistic interplay of strong interfacial hydrophobicity leading to dry contact and bulk energy dissipation through massive aromatic π–π interactions contributes greatly to the reliable and strong humidity macroadhesion. The present results provide a better understanding of humidity macroadhesion as well as application potential for microfibrillar adhesives, which are proven to be reliable skin adhesive patches for long-term health-care that have to be exposed to varying humidity conditions of the skin surface.

Graphical abstract: A humidity-resistant bio-inspired microfibrillar adhesive fabricated using a phenyl-rich polysiloxane elastomer for reliable skin patches

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
13 Sep 2022
Accepted
26 Oct 2022
First published
27 Oct 2022

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2022,10, 9179-9187

A humidity-resistant bio-inspired microfibrillar adhesive fabricated using a phenyl-rich polysiloxane elastomer for reliable skin patches

S. Xia, Y. Chen, W. Fu, J. Tian, Y. Zhou, Y. Sun, R. Cao, H. Zou and M. Liang, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2022, 10, 9179 DOI: 10.1039/D2TB01955H

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