According to foreign media reports, biomedical engineers at Michigan Technological University in the United States can change the underwater smart glue prototype from a viscous state to a non-viscous in just seven seconds with a single tap.
The way to make glue smart is to be able to activate and remove tack freely, which can be done smoothly in the open air, but it is another matter to do it underwater. Inspired by nature, researchers at Michigan Technological University discovered that catechol is a synthetic compound that mimics the moist but sticky protein secreted by mussels, providing a basis for the development of smart adhesives that work underwater. This technology is useful for making underwater glue, wound dressings, prosthetic accessories, and even auto parts and other manufacturing industries.
Associate Professor Bruce Lee of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Michigan Technological University is part of the Young Researcher Program (YIP) of the Office of Naval Research (ONR). He showed how to use pH to make smart underwater adhesives. In collaboration with PhD researcher Saleh Akram Bhuiyan, Lee developed a new method that uses electrical current to activate and eliminate the viscosity of catechol-containing substances.
The research team created a repeatable contact mechanics test that can measure the adhesiveness of the adhesive before and after applying current.
Lee said: "Many people are using catechol to imitate mussels and mucous mucous proteins, but using electricity to eliminate their viscosity is a new method. This method is more convenient than the pH method we used before, and It should be easier to integrate with electronic devices, meaning it can also be automatically separated from electronic devices, as simple as pressing a button. "
In the future, catechol adhesives may help adhere the device to the submarine's shell, but the prototype cannot be tested in scuba. On the contrary, Lee and Bhuiyan need to control a set of variables in the laboratory. Although it sounds simple, it is actually very difficult to pass current through a material and check its viscosity.
Bhuiyan developed a device that uses a titanium ball and a platinum wire electrode to apply current stimulation to an adhesive that is in contact with the titanium ball in saline. This method can easily control the voltage of wires, glue and titanium balls, as well as the salinity of brine. The length of time the current runs is also important. As time, voltage, and salinity increase, the degree of oxidation of the catechol binder also increases, and the viscosity becomes weaker. If the voltage is strong enough, the glue will fall off within 7 seconds.
Bhuiyan said: "The novelty of this method is the use of electric current and the glue can be peeled off in a short time. I found the most unusual part of this experiment was the change of color, which was white at first. The stickiness will disappear and be oxidized to red. "
The next step in the research is to change the red color back to white. The characteristic of smart glue is not only to make the adhesive lose its stickiness, but also to make it sticky again. Lee and PhD student Ameya Narkar achieved this by using pH.
From painless bandages to underwater glue, from car gears to prosthetics, catechol-containing adhesives are a versatile and promising material. (Text pictures are from Michigan Technological University) (Author: Yuqiu Yun)
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