Preparation and antifouling performance evaluation of fluorine-containing amphiphilic silica nanoparticles

Ocean-going ships, deep-sea equipment, coastal facilities, and other underwater surfaces are often attached to and fouled by marine microorganisms, animals, and plants, leading to damage, equipment failure or major economic losses in severe cases. Therefore, it is of great significance to take measures to prevent marine biofouling. To date, no single eco-friendly technology has been developed to achieve good antifouling effects. Therefore, the combination of multiple antifouling factors is still one of the main strategies to strengthen antibiofouling performance. In this paper, amphiphilic block copolymer (PTFEMA-co-PSBMA) functionalized silica (SiO2) nanoparticles of SiO2-g-(PTFEMA-co-PSBMA) were prepared by surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP), and then they were physically blended with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix to prepare one kind of novel antifouling coating. Compared with control silicone rubber coating and bare SiO2-dopped silicone rubber coating, the experiment results show that the diatom density on the surface of the copolymer functionalized silica nanoparticle-dopped coating is reduced by approximately 30 % and 50 %, respectively. Furthermore, upon employing washing process, it is found that the highest removal rate of diatoms on the surface of the copolymer functionalized silica nanoparticle coating is 50 %, which is approximately twice the removal rate of the unmodified SiO2 silicone rubber coating. Finally, it is found that the surface of the copolymer functionalized silica nanoparticle coating still has good antifouling and fouling release properties upon encountering wear test. These above results prove that the coatings with functionalized nanosilica nanoparticles have better antifouling performance. Current strategy in this work provides a new route for developing environmentally friendly fouling-releasing antifouling coatings.

Automated summary

This study developed a coating with functionalized silica nanoparticles, showing good antifouling performance in experiments. The removal rate of diatoms adhered on the surface was high after the washing process, and the coating maintained good fouling release properties even after wear testing.