CH/π Interactions for Macroscopic Interfacial Adhesion Design.

Adhesion to chemically inert materials without surface modification through noncovalent interactions represents a challenging task in adhesion science. We successfully develop for the first time a strategy utilizing multiple CH/π interactions that use poly(methacrylate) with an aromatic group (H acceptor) in the ester part and polyolefin materials (H donor). The strength increases with the number of π electrons and aromatic rings. The trityl methacrylate polymer emerges as the most effective H-acceptor polymer for obtaining strong adhesion to various polyolefin materials. This work will provide not only a promising adhesion strategy that does not require surface activation for polyolefin materials, but also a novel approach using weak noncovalent interactions.