An Antifreezing/Antiheating Hydrogel Containing Catechol Derivative Urushiol for Strong Wet Adhesion to Various Substrates

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Abstract

Tough adhesive hydrogels that can tightly bond to wet tissue/polymer/ceramic/metal surfaces have great potentials in various fields. However, conventional adhesive hydrogels usually show short-term and nonreversible adhesion ability, as the water component in a hydrogel readily transforms to vapor or ice in response to fluctuation of environment temperature, hindering their applications in extreme conditions such as in freezing Arctic and roasting Africa. For the first time, urushiol (UH), a natural catechol derivative with a long alkyl side chain, is used as a starting material to copolymerize with acrylamide for fabricating adhesive hydrogels, which contain hydrophobic/hydrophilic moieties, antifreezing agent, and adhesive catechol groups. The antifreezer/moisturizer glycerol/water binary solvent dispersed in the hydrogel endows it with antifreezing/antiheating property. The hydrophobic association and π-π interaction from UH moieties of the copolymer greatly improve its mechanical strength (tensile stress: ∼0.12 MPa with strain of ∼1100%, toughness: ∼72 kJ/m3, compression stress: ∼6.72 MPa at strain of 90%). The hydrogel can strongly adhere to various dry/wet biological/polymeric/ceramic/metallic substrates at temperatures ranging from -45 to 50 °C. Under ambient conditions, its adhesion force to porcine skin, glass, and tinplate may reach up to 160, 425, and 275 N/m, respectively. Even stored at -45 or 50 °C for 30 d, the hydrogel still maintains good flexibility and robust adhesion force. It also shows repeatable underwater adhesion to biological tissue, glass, ceramic, plastic, and rubber. This novel antifreezing/antiheating adhesive hydrogel may be applied in extremely cold or hot environments and in underwater conditions.

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