The development of environmentally-benign, anti-biofouling surfaces is desirable for the prevention of the accumulation of biofilm and marine organisms over current paint options that show environmental toxicity.  One approach that has shown to be promising is the use of novel polymeric networks as anti-fouling coatings.  Three classes of widely investigated polymers have been shown to inhibit fouling of specific marine organisms; that of fluoropolymers, siloxanes, and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) based materials.  In this study, a two-dimensional array of amphiphilic polymeric networks was generated by the crosslinking of hyperbranched fluoropolymer (HBFP), with varying concentrations of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and PEG.  The coatings in this matrix were obtained through a crosslinking reaction between the terminal amines of the PDMS and PEG with the alkyl bromides of the HBFP while coincidentally being deposited as coatings.  This synthetic method allows kinetically-driven crosslinking of all three materials simultaneously.  Crosslinking coincides with and is followed by degrees of thermodynamically-driven phase separation within the bound network and results in a complex surface that displays dynamically-reorganizing heterogeneity in its topography, topology and chemical composition on both the nano- and the micro-scale.  The coatings were characterized extensively using atomic force microscopy (AFM), surface force spectroscopy, contact angle and wide field fluorescence microscopy to probe the surface chemistry of the systems as well as their bulk properties.  Non-specific protein adsorption studies were also performed with bovine serum albumin to initially determine their performance as anti-biofouling coatings.  These findings suggest that our terpolymer films will contribute to a novel class of anti-fouling coatings that are environmentally benign and offer improved performance due to their blend of chemical composition, topography and topology on both the nano- and micro-scales.

Hyperbranched fluoropolymer-polydimethylsiloxane-poly(ethylene glycol) crosslinked terpolymer networks designed for marine and biomedical applications: Heterogeneous nontoxic antibiofouling surfaces

246th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.