2026-09-01 バージニア工科大学（Virginia Tech）
Chemists demonstrated the strength of one of their new adhesives in a tug-of-war between faculty members and students. The rope broke before the adhesive gave out. (From left) Josh Worch, John Matson, Isaac Addo, Regina Ham, and Udita Choudhury. Photo by Lee Friesland for Virginia Tech.
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.vt.edu/articles/2026/09/science-adhesives.html
- https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.77687
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/anie.7449383
クローズドループリサイクルが可能な感圧粘着テープ用単一素材ポリジスルフィド Mono-Material Polydisulfides for Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Tapes With Closed-Loop Recyclability
Woojung Ham, Tyler M. Witt, Charles M. Hui, Joshua C. Worch
Advanced Functional Materials Published: 31 August 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.77687
ABSTRACT
Conventional PSAs are multi-layer materials that contain numerous additives, rendering them non-recyclable. Efforts to develop more sustainable PSAs have predominantly focused on the adhesive layer with less attention toward the backing layer, which is typically a petroleum-derived plastic. Herein, we report a strategy to create “mono-material” PSA tapes from biogenic polydisulfide copolymers where both the plastic backing and adhesive layer are chemically recyclable. The copolymerization of α-lipoic acid and its ester derivative, ethyl lipoate, yields high-molecular-weight polydisulfides (Mw > 400 kDa) with low glass transition temperatures (<−30 °C) and unique viscoelastic properties including extremely low moduli (<100 kPa) and exceptional adhesion strength (peel capacity > 400 N·m−1) which was superior to commercial PSA tapes. The adhesive copolymer was treated with an alkaline solution to form a non-adhesive ionomer congener that was 1000-fold stiffer with plastic-like mechanical properties. The ionomer backing and elastomeric adhesive layer were adhered without additives or compatibilizers to form a complete PSA tape. Furthermore, the entire tape was depolymerized to recover the original monomeric components and repolymerized to afford materials with comparable properties. These discoveries establish a fully closed-loop, additive-free PSA platform in which both the adhesive layer and backing originate from a single dynamic polymer.
ボトルブラシ型ポリオレフィンスルホンをトリガー可能な分解性感圧接着剤として利用する Bottlebrush Polyolefin Sulfones as Triggerable and Degradable Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives
Clark Vu, Isaac D. Addo, Woojung Ham, Udita Choudhury, Joshua C. Worch, John B. Matson
Angewandte Chemie International Edition Published: 08 August 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.7449383
ABSTRACT
The molecular architecture (topology) of bottlebrush polymers, featuring densely grafted side chains along a polymeric backbone, leads to unique physical properties, enabling their use as functional materials including elastomers and pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs). Bottlebrush polymers can form additive-free PSAs due to their architecture, but most are crosslinked materials that include all-carbon backbones, have thermally unstable disulfide bonds, or do not reach the high molar masses needed for bottlebrush PSAs. Here, we applied the alternating free-radical copolymerization of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and norbornene-based macromonomers in a grafting-through approach to make bottlebrush polymers with number-average molar masses exceeding 1100 kg/mol and backbone degrees of polymerization exceeding 900. These first examples of poly(olefin sulfone) bottlebrush polymers incorporated polyacrylate, polymethacrylate, polystyrene, and poly(lactic acid) side chains, all attached to a poly(norbornene-alt-SO2) backbone. Under mild alkaline conditions, these very high molecular weight bottlebrush polymers degraded considerably within 10 min and completely within 4 h. Finally, a bottlebrush polymer synthesized using this approach behaved as a PSA with a peel strength of ∼1200 N/m, substantially higher than non-degradable PSAs in commercial tapes. In sum, this work offers a versatile approach to synthesize triggerable and degradable bottlebrush polymer adhesives enabling end-of-life disposal following their intended applications.
