Professor Xiuli Wang and Professor Haibo Zhao’s team at the College of Chemistry has developed a completely recyclable multi-functional adhesive. It is characterized by high durability, high transparency, excellent flame retardancy, and resistance to a variety of harsh environments. “Here, we demonstrate an aromatic siloxane adhesive that exploits stimuli-responsive reversible assembly driven by π-π stacking, allowing for elimination and activation of interfacial interactions via infiltration-volatilization of ethanol. The robust cohesive energy from water-insensitive siloxane assembly enables durable strong adhesion (3.5 MPa shear strength on glasses) on diverse surfaces. Long-term adhesion performances are realized in underwater, salt, and acid/alkali solutions (pH 1-14) and at low/high temperatures (−10-90°C). With reversible assembly/disassembly, the adhesive is closed-loop recycled (~100%) and reused over 100 times without adhesion loss. Furthermore, the adhesive has unique combinations of high transparency (~98% in the visible light region of 400-800 nm) and flame retardancy. The experiments and theoretical calculations reveal the corresponding mechanism at the molecular level. This π-π stacking–driven siloxane assembly strategy opens up an avenue for high-performance adhesives with circular life and multifunctional integration.” (Abstract)
The research findings have been published under the title of “Fully Recyclable Multifunctional Adhesive with High Durability, Transparency, Flame Retardancy, and Harsh-Environment Resistance” in Science Advances. Sichuan University is the sole signatory of the thesis. The corresponding authors are Xiuli Wang and Haibo Zhao of theNational Engineering Laboratory for Eco-Friendly Polymer Materials (Sichuan), College of Chemistry. Zihao Wang, a Class 2020 doctoral student, is the first author.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST, the 111 Project (B20001), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and Institutional Research Fund from Sichuan University.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add8527
