In this study, the antifouling (AF) performance of different carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-modified polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanocomposites (PCs) was examined directly in the natural seawater, and further analyzed using the Multidimensional Scale Analyses (MDS) method. The early-adherent bacterial communities in the natural biofilms adhering to different PC surfaces were investigated using the single-stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) technique. The PCs demonstrated differences and reinforced AF properties in the field, and they were prone to clustering according to the discrepancies within different CNT fillers. Furthermore, most PC surfaces only demonstrated weak modulating effects on the biological colonization and successional process of the early bacterial communities in natural biofilms, indicating that the presence of the early colonized prokaryotic microbes would be one of the primary causes of colonization and deterioration of the PCs. C6 coating seems to be promising for marine AF applications, since it has a strong perturbation effect on pioneer prokaryotic colonization.
Keywords: antifouling coatings; biofouling; multidimensional scale analysis; natural biofilms; polydimethylsiloxane; single-stranded conformation polymorphism.