Biobased antibacterial underwater adhesive based on in situ siliconization crosslinking

Underwater adhesives have gained significant attention because of their bright application prospects in industry and biomedical fields. However, exploiting a facial strategy to prepare an antibacterial biobased adhesive with admirable underwater adhesion remains a challenge. In this study, a novel biobased antibacterial underwater adhesive was developed based on the biomimetic siliconization strategy. Epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) was decorated with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane through reactions between the amino and epoxy groups to prepare silanized soybean oil (ESO-Si). Under hydrolysis, tannic acid (TA) served as crosslinking cores to induce Si–O–C bonding with ESO-Si to improve the cohesion of ESO-Si. The TA cross-linked silicification system endowed ESO-Si/TA with admirable underwater adhesion on various substrate surfaces. Benefiting from the antibacterial effect of TA, the prepared ESO-Si/TA underwater adhesive also exhibited a good antibacterial property. A novel method of utilizing water-induced bio-siliconization system to develop high-performance underwater adhesive was proposed, offering a new idea for the preparation of new biobased underwater adhesives.