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Light-Activated Adhesion and Debonding of Underwater Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives
Yen-Ming Tseng1, Amal Narayanan1, Kaushik Mishra1
1School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States.
Abstract:
Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) such as sticky notes and labels are a ubiquitous part of modern society. PSAs with a wide range of peel adhesion strength are designed by tailoring the bulk and surface properties of the adhesive. However, designing an adhesive with strong initial adhesion but showing an on-demand decrease in adhesion has been an enduring challenge in the design of PSAs. To address this challenge, we designed alkoxyphenacyl-based polyurethane (APPU) PSAs that show a photoactivated increase and decrease in peel strength. With increasing time of light exposure, the failure mode of our PSAs shifted from cohesive to adhesive failure, providing residue-free removal with up to 83% decrease in peel strength. The APPU-PSAs also adhere to substrates submerged underwater and show a similar photoinduced decrease in adhesion strength.
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