Multifunctional Underwater Adhesive Film Enabled by a Single-Component Poly(ionic liquid)

Tremendous efforts have been devoted to exploiting synthetic wet adhesives for real-life applications. However, developing low-cost, robust, and multifunctional wet adhesive materials remains a considerable challenge. Herein, a wet adhesive composed of a single-component poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) that enables fast and robust underwater adhesion is reported. The PIL adhesive film possesses excellent stretchability and flexibility, enabling its anchoring on target substrates regardless of deformation and water scouring. Surface force measurements show the PIL can achieve a maximum adhesion of 56.7 mN center dot m-1 on diverse substrates (both hydrophilic and hydrophobic substrates) in aqueous media, within similar to 30 s after being applied. The adhesion mechanisms of the PIL were revealed via the force measurements, and its robust wet adhesive capacity was ascribed to the synergy of different non-covalent interactions, such as of hydrogen bonding, cation-N, electrostatic, and van der Waals interactions. Surprisingly, this PIL adhesive film exhibited impressive underwater sound absorption capacity. The absorption coefficient of a 0.7 mm-thick PIL film to 4-30 kHz sound waves could be as high as 0.80-0.92. This work reports a multifunctional PIL wet adhesive that has promising applications in many areas and provides deep insights into interfacial interaction mechanisms underlying the wet adhesion capability of PILs.

Automated summary

This study reports a wet adhesive composed of a single-component poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) that enables fast and robust underwater adhesion. The PIL adhesive film possesses excellent stretchability and flexibility, achieving anchoring on target substrates regardless of deformation and water scouring. The wet adhesion capability of PILs is attributed to the synergy of different non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonding, cation-N, electrostatic, and van der Waals interactions, as revealed by surface force measurements. Surprisingly, the PIL adhesive film also exhibits impressive underwater sound absorption capacity.