Design of coatings and adhesives inspired by natural mussel glue
Nature is a treasure for material engineers, and learning from nature can play a key role in the design of novel materials for the future. Mussels, as marine organisms, have evolved a set of adhesion mechanisms that enable them to form robust attachments to various surfaces underwater. This PhD study aims to mimic natural mussel adhesion to design practical coatings and adhesives with novel functionalities. This work can be divided into two sections: (i) coatings based on dopamine and (ii) adhesives for wet environments. There are two studies on coatings. The first study is mainly focused on characterising the optical properties of polydopamine coatings and developing a proper modelling approach for the ellipsometry analysis of polydopamine coatings. The second study is focused on adjusting the properties of polydopamine coatings with a combined approach of dopamine co-deposition and layer-by-layer assembly; this approach is then applied to construct coatings with tuneable functionalities. The adhesive research also comprises two studies. The first study is dedicated to developing water-resistant bio-based adhesives by mimicking mussel adhesion mechanisms. The second study is focused on developing a novel adhesive inspired by mussel glue; the developed adhesive can bond various surfaces underwater as well as covalently cure to produce more durable adhesion. Basically, this PhD study explores functional coatings and adhesives inspired by mussels glue and also provides ideas for designing novel coatings and adhesives for the future.
Principal Supervisor:
Professor Esben Thormann, DTU Chemistry
Co-supervisor:
Associate Professor Rene Wugt Larsen, DTU Chemistry
Senior Researcher Saeed Zajforoushan Moghaddam, DTU Chemistry
Examiners:
Professor Kristoffer Almdal, DTU Chemistry
Associate Professor Torbjörn Pettersson, Royal Institute of Technology
Associate Professor Brigitte Städler, Aarhus University
Chairperson:
Associate Professor Niels Engholm, DTU Chemistry