Design of slippery organogel layer with room-temperature self-healing property for marine anti-fouling application

Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) was proven to be a potential strategy for inhibiting marine biofouling, which is an economic and environmental problem. The traditional SLIPS fabricated based on capillary effect of micro-structure was prone to be damaged in practical application. To solve this problem, a slippery organogel layer (OG) was designed by infusing silicone oil into poly(dimethylsiloxane) based polyurea (PDMS-PUa) synthesized from alpha, omega-Aminopropyl terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) (APT-PDMS) and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI). The self-healing property of the substrate was attributed to the breaking and reforming of hydrogen bonding in urea groups between PDMS-PUa, and self-generating of the lubricant oil layer was based on infiltration of silicone oil through PDMS-PUa substrate to the damaged area. The as-fabricated OG exhibited slippery performance with a low water sliding angle of < 10 degrees. The fractured substrates could self-heal after contacting at room temperature for 48 h, and the self-healing efficiency of the substrates increased with temperature. In addition, the as-prepared OG exhibited excellent performance in inhibiting bacterial settlement compared with bare glass (BG) and PDMS-PUa verified by bacterial settlement experiment under both static and dynamic environments. The as-prepared OG will provide an alternative strategy to design self-healing marine anti-fouling coatings in practical application.