Purdue University chemists are studying shellfish to develop new, safer, and more sustainable adhesives for uses ranging from bandages and medical applications to clothing, household items, electronics, and more. Humans have been trying to stick things to other things for millennia. But shellfish have been doing it for eons longer, and they are far better at it than humans.
Purdue chemists got to wondering: Why don’t we just use whatever the shellfish are using? Anyone who has ever tried to unstick a barnacle from a rock knows that it’s nearly impossible. That success is something Jonathan Wilker, a Purdue professor of chemistry and materials engineering, and his lab are hoping to learn from—and build on.