Guanidinium-Functionalized Double-Sided Tape as a Robust Tissue Adhesive Combining Bulk Water Clearance and Interfacial Dehydration
Water presents a fundamental challenge for tissue adhesives, requiring both the removal of bulk water and the interfacial hydration layer to achieve robust adhesion. Most marine-organism-inspired phenolic adhesives fail to meet key requirements for clinical use, including rapid, strong adhesion under physiological conditions, long-term stability, and scalable fabrication. Herein, we report a scalable guanidinium-functionalized double-sided tape (Gd<sup>+</sup>-DST) incorporating tannic acid that acts as a cross-linker and a phenolic adhesive component. This DST adheres within 5 s and achieves a record-high wet adhesion on porcine skin with interfacial toughness up to 1200 J m<sup>-2</sup> and shear strength up to 210 kPa after being underwater for 24 h. This performance arises from a synergistic mechanism: the Gd<sup>+</sup>-DST matrix rapidly absorbs and removes bulk water while suppressing swelling via chain rearrangement, and guanidinium-mediated multifaceted interactions and chaotropic properties promote interfacial dehydration and hydrophobic reorganization. These processes enable spontaneous, time-dependent adhesion reinforcement without external stimuli. Our Gd<sup>+</sup>-DST is flexible and biocompatible and gradually disintegrates under physiological conditions while also serving as a platform for drug loading and delivery. This study establishes a practical, multifunctional underwater adhesive with clinical relevance and offers molecular-level insights into water removal adhesion mechanisms.
Authors
- Lâm Tấn Hào (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9791-6071)
- Patrick Théato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4562-9254)
- Dominik Voll
- Hyo Jeong Kim
- Vu Thi Tuyet Thuy
Institutions
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE)
- Applied Materials (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KR)
- Korea University of Science and Technology (KR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Published
- 2026-02-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c24574
- Primary Topic
- Polymer Surface Interaction Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00