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, marine organisms that have been extensively studied in recent years, 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 (PDA) coatings and developing a proper modelling approach for the ellipsometry analysis of PDA coatings. The second study is focused on adjusting the properties of PDA 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 biobased 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.