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Guanidinium-Functionalized Double-Sided Tape as a Robust Tissue Adhesive Combining Bulk Water Clearance and
Vu Thi Tuyet Thuy1, Lam Tan Hao2, Hyo Jeong Kim2,3
1Institute for Technical Chemistry and Polymer Chemistry (ITCP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Engesserstraße 18, Karlsruhe 76131, Germany.
None:
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+-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-2 and shear strength up to 210 kPa after being underwater for 24 h. This performance arises from a synergistic mechanism: the Gd+-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+-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.
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