Topic:
This study unveils multi-phase dynamic bonding of boronic ester with readily available hydroxyl surfaces, enabling extraordinarily strong and tough reversible adhesion. While most of conventional structural adhesives are single-use unrecyclable adhesive with irreversible chemical bonding, this multi-phase polymer adhesive is rebondable and recyclable with foreseeable scalability, addressing the needs of polymer upcycling by dynamic polymers.
Incorporation of boronic ester into commodity triblock thermoplastic elastomers, coupled with the reversible bonding capability with many fillers and substrates enables one of the toughest adhesion ever reported. The work of debonding reaches ~three times higher than that of a representative structural adhesive, a commercial epoxy glue. Density functional theory calculations validated the experimental evidence of boronic ester bindings with multiple surfaces, exhibiting the bond energy of ~70 kJ/mol. DOI: epdf/10.1126/sciadv.abk2451
