Biofouling is a major problem affecting marine operations and aquatic industries, leading to increased drag, additional fuel consumption, hull damage, and/or added maintenance costs. With increased scrutiny on biocidal coatings, environmentally benign alternatives must be explored. This requires greater understanding of how surface chemistry and surface structure affect antifouling performance. This work seeks to use of a system of di- and triblock copolymers of polystyrene-poly(methyl vinylsiloxane-random-dimethylsiloxane) (PS-b-P(MVS-ran-DMS) and PS-b-P(MVS-ran-DMS)-b-PS) that are designed as a non-toxic hydrophobic, low surface energy backbone material with a vinyl moiety capable of being functionalized via thiol-ene “click” chemistry. This backbone provides a customizable platform for screening a wide array of functional groups to systematically explore their effect on antifouling and fouling release characteristics. Attachment of hydrophilic side groups creates an amphiphilic surface capable of reducing settlement and increasing release of three model marine species. Redox active stable radical groups attached to the backbone disrupt settlement and adhesion of barnacles which use oxidative adhesive curing. The antifouling performance of these materials was investigated through collaborative study of settlement, attachment, and removal of fouling organisms and correlated to polymer structure and surface chemistry.

Functionalized siloxane-based surface active block copolymers: Controlling surface chemistry and antifouling performance

256th National Meeting (2018)

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