Osmocapillary adhesion: Reversible and strong adhesion between any hydrogel

Deformation-dependent gel surface topography due to the elastocapillary and osmocapillary effects

“…[36][37][38][39] Such contradictions are expected because the Flory-Rehner model has been shown to severely underestimate the volumetric elasticity of the polymer network. 40 In the lack of an accurate compressible constitutive model for polymer networks, here we use the classical compressible neo-Hookean model to qualitatively illustrate the effect of network compressibility. 41 We tune the Poisson's ratio between n = 0 to 0.5 and repeat the simulations for the elastocapillary and osmocapillary cases.…”

Experimental characterization of elastocapillary and osmocapillary effects on multi-scale gel surface topography

“…For example, the transparency of fluorogel can be varied from opaque to transparent by changing its degree of swelling; 2 reversible and strong adhesion can be achieved between less swollen hydrogels due to osmocapillary adhesion. 42 And it is well-established that adhesion will affect friction. This study explains the mechanism behind these applications.…”