A New Antifouling Microtopography Surface Based On Molecule Self- Assembly And Evaluation Of Its Antifouling Ability

摘要

Marine biofouling is the accumulation of marine living organisms on a surface, and the organisms include bacteria, fungi, protozoa, algae and invertebrates. Marine biofouling could incur large functional and monetary costs to both military and commercial vessels by increasing fuel costs due to fractional drag, the cost of dry-docking for cleaning, and loss of hull strength consequent on biocorrosion. Usually, the ship hull will be painted an antifouling coating to prevent biological fouling. The best performing coatings are those containing metal based compounds like copper or tributyltin, however which can lead to serious irreversible adverse influence to marine ecological environment, such as imposex in oysters, and death of dolphins, porpoises as well as whales, so it is necessary to develop new eco-friendly antifouling alternatives to protect marine ecological environment. Studies showed that the settlement behavior of fouling organisms are usually influenced by the material surface characteristics, such as microtopography, surface energy as well as mechanical properties, therefore it is possible to develop new antifouling materials free of toxic components by controlling the material surface features. In this paper, a new antifouling material based on its surface microtopography was designed. The preparation of microtopography surface with molecule self-assembly was introduced, and its antifouling ability was also evaluated. Results showed that the prepared material surface can inhibit the biological fouling significantly. Since this inhibition procedure need no biocide or metal compounds, thus it is helpful for the development of new eco-friendly antifouling materials.