Complex coacervate-based wet adhesives:from fundamental understanding to applications

Adhesives are used everywhere, except in wet environments. Challenges in wetenvironments are, for example, that water can hinder contact with the surfaceor swell the glue. Looking at aquatic animals, researchers have found an interestingmaterial system for underwater adhesives: complex coacervates. Complexcoacervates are a mixture of oppositely charged chains, water and salt. When allthese components are mixed, the oppositely charged chains undergo an associativephase separation resulting in a polymer rich phase and a polymer dilute phase.In this thesis we have studied complex coacervates starting with numerical simulationsin order to model the behaviour of these materials. Then, two systematicstudies provide more insight into the effect of charge density or hydrophobic interactionson the behaviour and adhesion performance of these materials. Lastly,by drying a complex coacervate into a powder, the possibility of an application asa biomedical adhesive is explored