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Strong and recyclable bio-derived poly(ester amide) hot-melt adhesive

Nature Sustainability volume 9, pages 450–458 (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

Bio-based adhesives offer inherent advantages over conventional petrochemical-derived systems, including renewable sourcing, reduced environmental impact and potential degradability. However, most bio-based adhesives suffer from poor adhesion strength, limited substrate compatibility and a lack of chemical recyclability. Here we present a bio-derived multiblock poly(ester amide) adhesive that leverages microphase segregation between different segments to reconcile mechanical robustness with strong interfacial bonding. Notably, this multiblock architecture is accessed through a one-pot, selective acceptorless dehydrogenative polymerization, obviating the need for multistep synthesis. The materials exhibit excellent adhesion across a range of substrates including metals, glass and wet wood surpassing commercial benchmarks, while also demonstrating thermal stability, tunable mechanical properties and closed-loop chemical recyclability even in the presence of other commodity plastics. Furthermore, the adhesive strength of these materials could be tuned for various potential applications through control over the chemical composition of the polymer. By integrating renewable feedstocks, high-performance functionality and efficient chemical circularity within a single platform, this work provides a viable pathway toward more sustainable adhesive technologies and contributes to advancing circular materials manufacturing.

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Fig. 1: Synthetic overview of recyclable and bio-based multiblock PEA materials.
Fig. 2: Comprehensive property evaluation of the PEA materials.
Fig. 3: Evaluation of adhesion strength of PEA materials.
Fig. 4: Recycling of PEA materials.

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Full experimental details and the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health under grant no. R35GM144356 and RePLACE (Redesigning Polymers to Leverage a Circular Economy) funded by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy through grant no. DE-SC0022290. The authors thank the Analytical Resources Core (RRID: SCR_021759) at Colorado State University for instrument access. G.M.M. acknowledges support from the Dr. Robert Williams Professorship in Organic Chemistry at Colorado State University. Funding for J.M. and N.A.R. was provided by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) as part of the BOTTLE Consortium, supported by AMMTO and BETO under contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308 with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Xin Liu, Katherine L. Harry.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Xin Liu, Katherine L. Harry, Yucheng Zhao & Garret M. Miyake

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Emma M. Rettner & Garret M. Miyake

  3. Renewable Resources and Enabling Sciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA

    Joel Miscall & Nicholas A. Rorrer

  4. BOTTLE Consortium, Golden, CO, USA

    Joel Miscall & Nicholas A. Rorrer

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Contributions

X.L. and G.M.M. conceived the idea. X.L. designed and conducted experiments and analysed results. X.L., Y.Z., K.L.H., E.M.R., J.M. and N.A.R. performed characterization and analysed results. X.L. wrote the initial manuscript and supplemental materials. All authors read and edited the manuscript. G.M.M. directed the project.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Garret M. Miyake.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Feng Peng and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Liu, X., Harry, K.L., Zhao, Y. et al. Strong and recyclable bio-derived poly(ester amide) hot-melt adhesive. Nat Sustain 9, 450–458 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-026-01776-0

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