Organic-inorganic hybrid network to enhance the electrostatic shielding of multifunctional soybean meal-based adhesive

Abstract

Static electricity and formaldehyde pollution are not only severely harmful to ecological environment but also seriously affecting human health. It is of great importance but still challenging to develop an eco-friendly and multifunctional adhesive for electrostatic shielding. Protein adhesives were considered to be an effective substitute for formaldehyde resin adhesives, but show poor water resistance and conductive, limiting their practical applications in many fields, such as antistatic materials and antistatic floors. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a multifunctional adhesive by a facile organic-inorganic hybrid network to enhance the electrostatic shielding for antistatic materials. As we expected, the volume resistivity of the resultant adhesive for antistatic floors is only 2.73 × 10 8 Ω·cm, which is five orders of magnitude less than that of soybean meal (SM) adhesive and shows excellent electrostatic shielding performance. After experiencing a rapid thermal shock cycle between two extreme temperature conditions for 30 times, the mechanical performance of adhesive still remained stable. Furthermore, the adhesives are not only eco-friendly and non-formaldehyde, but excellent mildew resistance and flame retardancy. This multifunctional SM-based adhesive opens a new way to replace harmful formaldehyde-based adhesives, which have potential applications in the field of antistatic floors. • A high-performance adhesive was prepared by a facile and green organic-inorganic hybrid strategy for electrostatic shielding. • The multiple bonding structures were formed between protein chains and hydroxylated BT nanoparticles. • The adhesive exhibited mechanical stability under two extreme temperature cycling. • This adhesive could be used for antistatic materials with flame retardance and antimicrobial properties.