Electrostatic-Mechanical Synergistic In Situ Multiscale Tissue Adhesion for Sustainable Residue-Free Bioelectronics...

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Tissue Engineering
• Adhesive Technology

Background:

• Current soft adhesives struggle with long-term, stable tissue integration due to challenges in achieving strong and residue-free adhesion.
• Understanding the synergistic mechanisms of electrostatic and mechanical interactions is crucial for developing advanced tissue adhesives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a residue-free, sustainable, in situ tissue adhesive utilizing a hybrid multiscale architectonic approach.
• To investigate the synergistic electrostatic and mechanical adhesion mechanisms for enhanced biofluid-insensitive coupling to diverse wet tissues.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of hybrid multiscale architectonics in a novel adhesive design.
• Development of a thermodynamic model to deduce the adhesion mechanism.
• Experimental validation using nanoporous hydrogels embedded in hierarchical elastomeric structures.

Main Results:

• The proposed thermodynamic model supports experimental findings of enhanced adhesion.
• Thermodynamically controlled hydrogel swelling ensures biofluid-insensitive, sustainable, in situ adhesion to various wet and slippery organ surfaces.
• The adhesive demonstrates clean detachment in the peeling direction and enables reliable electrophysiological signal measurements from rodent sciatic nerve, muscle, brain, and human skin.

Conclusions:

• A novel synergistic adhesion mechanism combining electrostatic and mechanical interactions has been elucidated.
• The developed adhesive offers robust, residue-free, and sustainable in situ tissue integration.
• This technology provides a versatile platform for reliable bio-signal monitoring across diverse biological tissues.