Gel
materials are materials with high elasticity that deform when
stressed and then return to their original shapes once the stress
is removed. Gel materials are expected to be used in artificial living
tissues, soft robotics, sensors, and so on. On the other hand, humans
grow and change their bodies and characteristics over time. In this
research, we developed an adhesive gel system that can grow and change
its characteristics like our humans after adhesion through reversible
addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization,
a class of living radical polymerization. The adhesive joint grown
by RAFT polymerization had higher adhesive strength than the non-RAFT-polymerized
adhesive joint and a function, i.e., thermal responsiveness of adhesive
strength. The environment around us changes over time. These growable
adhesive gel systems should enable us to use gel materials for a long
time while adapting their structures and characteristics to environmental
changes.
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