Supramolecular Velcro for Reversible Underwater Adhesion

Abstract

Sticky job: Excellent underwater adhesion with remarkable mechanical and chemical reversibility has been demonstrated with a supramolecular velcro using host–guest chemistry and multivalent interactions (see scheme). Silicon surfaces (blue) functionalized with cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) hosts and aminomethylferrocene (Fc) guests adhere under water because of their extraordinarily high affinity.