Advance in barnacle cement with high underwater adhesion

Abstract

Adhesives play an important role in the areas of biomedicine and engineering manufacture. Barnacle cement is a polyprotein complex secreted by barnacle, which can bind with various kinds of underwater substances; therefore, becoming a hotspot of new bionic adhesive materials because of its superior adhesion. The low solubility and complicated secretion process of barnacle cement hinder current understanding of its components, physicochemical properties, synthetic process, and so forth. This review mainly summarizes the latest research advances and applicable potentials of barnacle cement characterized by rapid adhesion, uneasy degradation, polymerized curing in an underwater environment, and so forth, and provides reference for both research and development of bioinspired synthetic wet adhesives.