Antibacterial silicylacrylate copolymer emulsion for antifouling coatings
Employing silicylacrylate and cationic acrylate as functional monomers, a novel silicylacrylate copolymer (SAC) antibacterial emulsion was successfully synthesised by soap-free emulsion polymerisation.
The effect of functional monomers, initiator and temperature on stability and antibacterial activity of SAC emulsion were investigated. Additionally, the morphology, structure and mechanical properties of SAC copolymer particles and film were characterised by FTIR, SEM, TEM and TGA. The results revealed that moderately increasing initiator and reaction temperature could largely improve conversion and reaction rate in the polymerisation system.
Preventing accumulation of microorganisms
A balanced amount of silicylacrylate (10%) and cationic acrylate (6%) were not only capable of increasing the crosslinking property of SAC copolymer, but also endowing SAC emulsion with good homogeneity and stability. In conclusion, based on a non-toxic and non-biocide-release principle which could be regarded as a green and economic synthetic strategy, the scientists obtained SAC coating with obvious antibacterial activity and excellent mechanical properties which enabled to be applied in antifouling coatings to prevent the undesirable accumulation of microorganisms on substrate surfaces.
The study is published in: Progress in Organic Coatings Volume 118, May 2018, Pages 122-128.
