New choices for marine antifouling applications

Self-polishing coatings (SPC) with renewable surfaces are widely used in the shipping industry and offshore installations to prevent unexpected costs and safety concerns from marine biofouling. However, self-polishing coatings still suffer from uncontrollable release of antifouling biocides which is called “initial burst and final decay” and poor mechanical properties. Now, a series of controlled-release boron-polyurethane antifouling coatings (DBIT) were prepared with good mechanical properties and micro-dynamic surface. 2, 2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propionic acid (DMPA) and pyridine-diphenylborane (PDB) were used as reaction sites and antifouling functional side chain groups, respectively, which endowing the coatings with the controlled release ability and good performance.

Excellent antifouling performance

The results showed that the DBIT coatings had certain mechanical properties, up to an ultimate stress of 14.8 MPa. The DBIT₇₅ coating could reduce 90.6 % settlement of Halamphora sp., 92.7 % settlement of Nitzschia closterium, and repel the settlement of mussels. More importantly, DBIT_x coatings displayed excellent antifouling performance for at least 4 months in the field test, which shows that the controlled-release polyurethane coatings provide a new choice for marine antifouling applications.

The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 174, January 2023.