Tough antifouling organogels reinforced by the synergistic effect of oleophobic and dipole–dipole interactions

Abstract

Slippery organogels have gained increasing interest as competitive candidates for antifouling applications. However, it remains challenging to develop tough organogels suitable for fouling resistance in dynamic and flexible application scenarios. Herein, a kind of physically crosslinked organogels with a combination of desirable properties, including high toughness, transparency, surface slipperiness, and fouling resistance is developed. The representative pAL organogels, constructed by poly(acrylonitrile-co-lauryl acrylate) (pAL) copolymer and infiltrated with n-hexadecane as a lubricating solvent, possess high tensile fracture stress, fracture strain, Young’s modulus, and toughness of 4.28 MPa, 517%, 2.52 MPa, and 11.19 MJ m−3. In the organogels, the polar cyano groups from the pAN segments serve as physical cross-linking points, where the synergistic effects played by oleophobic and dipole–dipole interactions significantly toughen the materials. Meanwhile, the soft oleophilic poly(lauryl acrylate) chains offer considerable solvent content, giving rise to satisfactory surface slipperiness. Therefore, the organogels bring about a 57.16% and 81.50% reduction of protein and bacteria adhesion in comparison to the control. The satisfactory antifouling performance has been further confirmed with Spirulina platensis. It is deemed that this organogel may provide great potential for various applications in the future such as anti-adhesion materials and self-cleaning coating.