Unique adhesive formed from liquid-driven chaos

The findings from North Carolina State University could lead to advances in gels, pastes, foods, or non-woven sheets and coatings. Their results are described in Nature Materials.

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The soft dendritic particle materials with unique adhesive and structure-building properties can be created from a variety of polymers precipitated from solutions under special conditions, said Orlin Velev, S. Frank and Doris Culberson Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State and corresponding author of the paper.

"We use 'liquid' nanomanufacturing to convert most polymers into branched particles after dissolving the polymer and mixing the solution rapidly with another liquid," he said in a statement. "This rapid mixing in turbulent flow creates branched particles organised in a hierarchical way."

Velez said the thinnest branches surrounding these particles form a corona of nanofibres that distribute their stickiness via van der Waals forces.