Extraordinary Adhesion of Phenylboronic Acid Derivatives of Polyvinylamine to Wet Cellulose: A Colloidal Probe Microscopy Investigation

Typically, the adhesion between cellulose surfaces under aqueous conditions is very poor. Often, adsorbed polymers such as polyvinylamine (PVAm) are used to increase the wet strength; however, this provides only a minimal increase in the adhesion energy. Here, the adhesion between cellulose surfaces with adsorbed layers of phenylboronic acid derivatized polyvinylamine has been studied using colloidal probe microscopy as a function of pH. The …