Develop a novel and multifunctional soy protein adhesive constructed by rosin acid emulsion and TiO2 organic-inorganic hybrid structure.

ABSTRACT

Soy protein adhesives (SPI) exhibit broad prospects in substituting aldehyde-based resin due to the economic and environmental-friendly characteristics, but still face a challenge because of the dissatisfied bonding strength and terrible water resistance. Herein, prompted by organic-inorganic hierarchy, a multifunctional and novel soy protein adhesive (SPI-RAE-TiO2) consisting of rosin acid emulsion (RAE) and TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2) were proposed. In comparison with original SPI, the dry and wet shear strengths of modified adhesive reached 2.01 and 1.21 MPa, respectively, which were increased by 130 % and 200 %. Furthermore, SPI-6RAE-0.5TiO2 was selected as the best proportion via the method of response surface methodology (RSM). What's more, SPI-6RAE-0.5TiO2 adhesive demonstrated prominent coating performance in both dry and wet surface conditions. Meanwhile, SPI-6RAE-0.5TiO2 adhesive possessed excellent mildew resistance and antibacterial ability with Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), reflecting the antibacterial rates 97.71 % and 98.16 %, respectively. In addition, SPI-6RAE-0.5TiO2 adhesive also exhibited the outstanding green features such as the reduction of formaldehyde pollution and greenhouse effect through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Thus, this work provided a novel and functional approach to design multifunctional, superior-property and low-carbon footprint soy protein adhesive.