Underwater adhesion and curing of superhydrophobic coatings for facile antifouling applications in seawater

Abstract

Superhydrophobic coating is a promising candidate to resolve the marine fouling. However, the immobilization and curing of the coatings in seawater is a signification challenge in the practical applications. Herein, a superhydrophobic and antibacterial membrane was fabricated, and its immobilization on substrates was realized directly in seawater via the underwater adhesion technology. The obtained membranes displayed good flexibility, mechanical strength (1.56 MPa), and hydrophobicity. After the curing in seawater, they can lift a 200 g load without any separation, intuitively indicating the excellent adhesion force with substrates, and the adhesion strength reached up to 3.63 MPa. The WCA and SA values were 161.3° and 4.9°, respectively. Furthermore, these properties still maintained steady after the 30 days of immersion in seawater, showing their long service life. The self-cleaning test and the significant inhibition zones demonstrated their excellent resistance to the adhesion and the multiplication of marine microorganisms. More importantly, this developed method can be used in other substrates to obtain the antifouling coatings in seawater, and has universal applicability in the ocean engineering.