Reversible adhesive based on self-repair behavior

The research on reversible adhesives has attracted upsurge in recent years. Reversible adhesives have a wide range of potential applications, including aerospace, military equipment, biomedical, and packaging protection. In this paper, reversible mechanisms, integrated into adhesives with self-repair behavior, are based on covalent and non-covalent bonds, and the most popular modes of action of these two mechanisms are reviewed. Non-covalent bonds mainly illustrate the application of hydrogen bonding and coordination in reversible adhesives. Covalent bonds applied in reversible adhesives include Diels–Alder reaction, sulfur-containing chemical bond, boronate or boroxine, acylhydrazone linkage, polytriazole, etc. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the reversible adhesive application based on different mechanism are compared and the research prospects are evaluated.