Enhanced marine biofouling and corrosion resistance through springtails-inspired papillate-like micropillar arrays surface modified by antimicrobial peptide

Abstract

Marine biological fouling has a serious impact on artificial facilities, and traditional antifouling coatings are not beneficial to green development, which lead to the urgent to develop green strategies that can effectively prevent fouling. In this study, an innovative confluence of physical and biological approaches was employed to mitigate the harm caused by biofouling on a material substrate. Firstly, a hierarchical microstructured morphology was prepared on an aluminum surface by reactive ion etching and characterised. The antibacterial peptide, A-2S, was surface modified with dopamine as a coupling agent to produce a physico-biological synergistic antifouling surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and electrochemical experiments were then used to analyse the binding effect and corrosion resistance performance. A-2S was successfully modified on the sample surface and exhibited good corrosion resistance with a corrosion inhibition efficiency of 86.57 %. Compared to a bare aluminum plate, the microstructure surface has a certain inhibitory effect on fouling organisms, and the antifouling performance decreases over time. In contrast, the antimicrobial peptide synergistic surfaces demonstrated superior durable antifouling performance. Compared with the 50 % of the antifouling performance on the microstructure surface, the synergistic surface has a unique contact point effect of the microstructure and excellent antibacterial and bactericidal properties of antimicrobial peptides, resulting in a surface antifouling performance of over 80 %. The synergistic modification method enhanced the corrosion resistance of the material and reduced the adhesion of fouling organisms, mitigating the harm caused by biofouling on the marine equipment substrate.