Surface hydrolysis-anchored eugenol self-polishing marine antifouling coating

Jianang Sha; Xin Liu; Rongrong Chen; Jing Yu; Qi Liu; Jingyuan Liu; Jiahui Zhu; Peili Liu; Rumin Li; Jun Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.058

Surface hydrolysis-anchored eugenol self-polishing marine antifouling coating

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 May:637:67-75. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.058. Epub 2023 Jan 14.

Authors

Jianang Sha¹, Xin Liu¹, Rongrong Chen², Jing Yu¹, Qi Liu³, Jingyuan Liu¹, Jiahui Zhu¹, Peili Liu¹, Rumin Li⁴, Jun Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, 150001, China.
² Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, 150001, China; Hainan Harbin Institute of Technology Innovation Research Institute Co., Ltd., Hainan 572427, China. Electronic address: chenrongrong@hrbeu.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, 150001, China; Hainan Harbin Institute of Technology Innovation Research Institute Co., Ltd., Hainan 572427, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, 150001, China. Electronic address: lirumin@hrbeu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36682119
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.058

Abstract

Traditional self-polishing antifouling coatings kill surface organisms by releasing toxic substances, which are damaging to the ecosystem. As a natural antimicrobial substance, eugenol is environmentally friendly and has been proven by different research teams to be effective in enhancing the anti-fouling effect of coatings in the real sea. While in these previous research works, the eugenol was released directly into the seawater thus cannot further serve as surface antifouling effect, leading to a limited antifouling effect of the coating. In this work, the quaternary ammonium component was introduced into the butyl ester-based resin - poly (eugenol methacrylate - acryloyloxyethyltrimethyl ammonium chloride - hexafluorobutyl methacrylate - methyl methacrylate - butyl methacrylate - ethylene glycol methyl ether acrylate) (EMQFP) coating for the first time by simple one-step free radical polymerization method. On the one hand, the eugenol produced by hydrolysis is anchored to the quaternary ammonium on the coating surface for a period of time due to the cationic-π interaction, instead of being released into seawater immediately after hydrolysis, thus increasing the utilization rate of eugenol; on the other hand, the negatively charged carboxylate groups generated after hydrolysis in the coating are mutually attracted to quaternary ammonium through electrostatic effect, so the resin chain segment conformation on the coating surface adjusted to produce zwitterionic-like structure, and the hydration of zwitterionic inhibits primary fouling adhesion.

Keywords: Antifouling; Coating; Eugenol; Quaternary ammonium; Self-polishing.