Oleophobic interaction mediated slippery organogels with ameliorated mechanical performance and satisfactory fouling-resistance

Owing to their inherent semi-solid property and lubricant ability, organogels manifest various unique characteristics and serve as promising candidates for antifouling. However, the poor mechanical proper -ties of organogels often limit their practical applications. Herein, we report a simple and effective method to prepare organogels with reinforced mechanical performance and surface lubricant ability with the syn-ergistic roles played by oleophobic and oleophilic chains. The rigid oleophobic chains have a poor affinity to lubricating solvent, which gives rise to high oleophobic interactions between polymer networks; the soft oleophilic chains possess a high affinity to the low surface energy solvent, which lead to high solvent content to maintain the satisfactory lubricant capacity. The organogel of oleophobic methyl methacry-late (MMA) and oleophilic lauryl methacrylate (LMA) is chosen as a representative example to illustrate this concept. With the optimal composition, the as-prepared organogels offer satisfactory tensile fracture stress, fracture strain, Young's modulus, toughness, and tearing fracture energy of 480 kPa, 550%, 202 kPa, 1.14 MJ m-3, and 5.14 kJ m(-2), respectively, which are far beyond the classical PLMA organogels. Further-more, the biofouling resistance tests demonstrate 4 to 9-fold reduction of protein and bacteria adhesion on the reinforced organogels surface in comparison to the glass substrate and solvent-free dry organogels. This simple and effective approach to toughen organogels, we hope, can be applied in various fields with different practical functional requirements in the future. (C) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Automated summary

Due to their semi-solid property and lubricant ability, organogels have potential applications in antifouling. However, their poor mechanical properties limit their practical use. In this study, a simple and effective method was developed to enhance the mechanical performance and surface lubrication of organogels using oleophobic and oleophilic chains. The reinforced organogels showed superior mechanical properties compared to traditional organogels, and demonstrated reduced protein and bacteria adhesion, making them promising materials for various functional requirements.