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Lookup NU author(s): Dr John Finlay, Professor Tony Clare, Peter Allen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Marine biofouling is the natural accumulation of organisms on substrates that reside in rivers, lakes, and seas. To combat this issue, polymer-based coatings historically utilized tin or copper compounds, which, though effective, are also highly toxic. In this study, a series of functionalized toxicant-free PDMS-type polymers were designed with pH buffer and zwitterionic moieties for fouling inhibition. The water contact angles ranged from 41 to 98°, demonstrating significant differences in the wettability of the coated surfaces. XPS and SEM-EDS testing confirmed the surface presence of buffer and zwitterionic functional groups. Assays were carried out using both laboratory and field testing against an array of marine species to gain an understanding of how these buffered polymer coatings hold up in the environment and to measure their antifouling and fouling-release capabilities. The organisms used for testing were a diatom, Navicula incerta, and two types of tubeworms, spirorbid and nonspirorbid serpulids. Piperazine and piperazine zwitterionic-based coatings performed the best overall as antifouling and fouling-release materials. Preliminary biological assays suggest that hydrophobic zwitterion-functionalized siloxane-based polymers may have both preventative antibacterial and antifouling interactions with target species compared to previously studied hydrophobic materials
Author(s): Hester EG, Zhang Z, Finlay JA, Clare AS, Allen P, Teow AYJ, Yap NWL, Teo SL-M, Ober CK
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Langmuir
Year: 2025
Volume: 41
Issue: 14
Pages: 9312-9323
Print publication date: 15/04/2025
Online publication date: 04/04/2025
Acceptance date: 12/03/2025
Date deposited: 17/05/2025
ISSN (print): 0743-7463
ISSN (electronic): 1520-5827
Publisher: American Chemical Society
URL: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c05179
DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c05179
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/d6hd-ht80
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