Overview

• A peer-reviewed Nature paper now details hydrogels with the strongest underwater adhesion yet recorded following comprehensive lab and field tests.
• Researchers mined roughly 25,000 adhesive protein sequences from the NCBI database and trained machine learning models on 180 initial gel prototypes to predict optimal polymer networks.
• The resulting hydrogels exceed 1 MPa of underwater adhesive strength, outperforming existing soft adhesives by an order of magnitude and maintaining performance across various surfaces and salinity levels.
• Practical demonstrations included a rubber duck remaining fixed to a wave-battered rock and instant, repeatable sealing of leaks in damaged pipes.
• Patent applications are under way as researchers pursue scale-up, real-world trials and potential biomedical uses, bolstered by preliminary biocompatibility tests in mice.