Strong and Degradable Adhesion of Hydrogels

Adhesives potentially offer convenient means to close wounds, but existing adhesives do not fulfill many common requirements. Here we demonstrate an approach to develop hydrogel adhesives that are strong initially, remain soft when adhered to soft tissues, and degrade over time. We demonstrate the approach by using a hydrogel that dissipates a large amount of energy during separation, forms strong and interlinks with the soft tissues, and degrades by breaking cross-links. The hydrogel achieves initial adhesion energies of 300–700 J/m2 when adhered to different tissues, can bear huge pressure, and completely degrades in 5 weeks under simulated physiological conditions.