Sustainable superglue.

Science Daily has news from Colorado State chemical researchers, who’ve found an adhesive that does the work of superglue, but is “biodegradable, tunable, and reusable”:

[Distinguished Professor Eugene] Chen said that poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), or P3HB, is a natural, biobased and biodegradable polymer that can be produced by microbes under the right biological conditions. While the polymer is not adhesive when made that way, his lab was able to chemically re-engineer its structure to now deliver stronger adhesion than the common petroleum-derived, nonbiodegradable options when used on various substrates or surfaces such as aluminum, glass and wood. The adhesion strength of the re-engineered P3HB can also be tuned to accommodate different application needs.

The findings are part of a larger goal by Chen’s group to improve and expand our ability to tackle the global plastics pollution crisis. His team is involved in many efforts to develop chemically recyclable, biodegradable and, overall, more sustainable alternatives to today’s plastic materials. He said that while many people inherently recognize the life cycle issues that come with a disposable water bottle, adhesives present more daunting issues with fewer potential solutions.

“Petroleum-based thermoset adhesives such as Gorilla Glue and J-B Weld, along with thermoplastic hot melts, can be very difficult or even impossible to recycle or recover — primarily because of their strong bonds to other materials,” he said. “Our approach instead offers a biodegradable material that can be used in a variety of industries with tunable or even higher strength compared to those options.”


You can read more of Chen’s team’s research here, in Science.