Multi-Sensing Multi-Active Nanocomposite Coating for Quantitatively Characterizing Foulant-Surface Interactions
Abstract
In order to prevent biofouling on Naval and commercial vessels and other immersedequipment, two research areas are of critical impo""rtance:1. To fundamentally understand the interactions between marine organisms and engineeringsurfaces (e.g., Fig 2).2. Based on"" the understanding, to design effective and environmentally benign antifoulingand foul-release coatings (e.g., Fig 2).Despite the"" intensive efforts and significant progresses, existing studies on marineorganism-surface interactions mainly rely on optical micro"scopes and scanning electronmicroscopes (SEMs) to characterize the morphology of marine organisms on engineering surfaces.Other ph"ysical and chemical parameters on the interfaces including electrical impedance,temperature, pressure (applied by foulants such as"" barnacles), and pH have been largely ignored.However, owning to the distinct different physical and chemical properties of marine"" organisms,sea water and engineering surfaces, these physical and chemical parameters can vary significantlyas the adhesion of mar"ine organisms on engineering surfaces progresses. A quantitativecharacterization of these parameters will potentially provide a sys"tematic and fundamentalunderstanding on marine organism (e.g., foulant)-engineering surface interactions.As for area 2, traditiona""l antifouling coatings, relying primarily on biocidal organics ormetals, can have significant negative impacts on environment. For"" example, the use ofenvironmentally harmful tributyltin (TBT)-based paints has been banned5, and there is increasing opposition to"" copper-based paints6. Newer polymer-based coatings attempt to provide non-toxicsurfaces for biofouling and corrosion control7, but"" they are easily damaged and mostly ineffectivein long-term applications8. Highly effective, robust and environmentally friendly co"atings for longtermantifouling and anticorrosion applications are still not available.Motivated by the impacts of biofouling-corro"sion problems and the limitations of existingstudies, we propose to develop an advanced multi-sensing multi-active nanocomposite co"atingcapable of i). quantitatively characterizing multiple relevant physical and chemical parameters inmarine organism-surface int"eractions, and ii). multi-active antifouling and controlled foulingrelease in response to external stimuli (Fig. 2). The nanocompos"ite (Fig. 2A) consists of grapheneoxides and/or magnetic nanoparticles embedded in extremely tough hydrogel or elastomer matrixbas"ed on zwiterionic polymers (Fig. 2B). The nanocomposite coating is antifouling and the activecomponents (i.e., graphene oxides and/"or magnetic nanoparticles) in the coating can activelydetach various fouling organisms on demand in response to external stimuli su"ch as electrical andmagnetic fields (Fig. 2D). In addition, a flexible multi-sensing system will be used to quantitativelymultiple" physical and chemical parameters on foulant-coating interactions to accurately indicatethe status of fouling on the nanocomposite coating and other control samples (Fig. 2C).
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 29, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712920
Entities
People
- Xuanhe Zhao
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy