Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently improved a double-sided adhesive tape that can stick to wet surfaces, including those within the human body.
The tape as originally developed can help mend rips and tears in organs such as the lungs and can also be used to attach implants to tissue. However, once it is applied, the tape is difficult to remove. Now, the tape is not only easily attachable, but also easily detachable.
MIT’s initial double-sided tape (DST) was inspired by spider webs, which form an almost instant and incredibly strong bond to wet tissue and the exoskeletons of insects. The tape rapidly absorbs water from the wet tissue surface and almost immediately forms crosslinks with the tissue to create a tight adhesion.
Standard tissue adhesives and glues typically rely on the diffusion and solidification of liquid at the tissue surface to form bonds; adhesion is slow and bonding is weak.
The MIT team used...
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