The development of coatings that resist fouling have many potential applications ranging from surfaces for water purification membranes to ship coatings to biomedical and biological surfaces. Typically fouling occurs in stages and starts with deposition of biomolecules such as proteins and then is followed by adhesion of cells. In the marine environment this is followed by attachment of larger organisms, each using a variety of anchoring strategies. Amphiphilic coatings have shown resistance to a variety of fouling strategies. Among the amphiphilic coatings that have been investigated, those that combine fluorinated materials with polar materials such as polyethylene glycol have proven to be the most effective. In this talk a model surface active block copolymer is described which contains a surface active segment containing both non-polar and polar groups. This approach enables study of surfaces having similar mechanical characteristics and process methods. The fouling resistance of these coatings was assessed using tests against the green alga <i>Ulva Linza</i> and the diatom <i>Navicula</i>. The characteristics of the coating surface was evaluated using a variety of physical methods, but one of the most informative was the use of near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). In many cases the presence of the fluorinated group aided delivery of the polar groups to the surface region. The influence of the nature of attachment, design of functional groups for best fouling release and relative compositions on fouling release will be described.

Fluorinated block copolymers: New materials as environmentally benign anti-fouling coatings

249th National Meeting (2015)

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