Eco-friendly foul release coatings based on a novel reduced graphene oxide/Ag nanocomposite prepared by a green synthesis approach

Abstract

The purpose of making graphene/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based coatings is providing a suitable strategy to prevent fouling organism adhesion. In this study, graphene oxide (GO) reduced with Avicennia marina/Silver to achieve GOH@Ag nanocomposite. GOH@Ag, bare GO and multi-Wall Carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as nanofillers were individually incorporated into PDMS-based coatings with 0.01, 0.1, and 0.5 %wt. The surface characterization including pseudo-barnacle adhesion strength and water static contact angle and critical surface energy was performed for all samples. Evaluating field immersion was performed due to the samples in the natural seawater. The best results were observed for the sample with 0.5 wt% of GOH@Ag (RMS roughness = 103 nm, pseudo-barnacle adhesion strength =0.16 MPa, critical surface energy = 16 mN/m, static contact angle = 118.8°). The simultaneous presence of A. marina and silver element in the structure of graphene-based nanocomposite showed a synergistic effect on the performance of PDMS-based coatings which achieved outstanding result of antifouling efficiency (N = 18).