Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles aggregation in silicate thin coating films on photocatalytic behavior for antifouling materials

Antifouling and Photocatalytic Antibacterial Activity of the AquaSun Coating in Seawater and Related Media

“… 13 This semiconductor is highly active under visible radiation and thus it overperforms TiO 2 -based semiconductors, which have been proposed in the past for analogous applications. 14 , 15 …”

“…Aiming to develop a coating capable of providing full protection to ships, recreational boats, and underwater structures against marine biofouling, we have recently reported the promising discovery that nanoflower-like Bi 2 WO 6 encapsulated in methyl-modified silica shows excellent photocatalytic antifouling action leading to the formation of hydrogen peroxide. − Hydrogen peroxide is a strong and clean oxidant decomposing into water and oxygen, able to rapidly degrade the (bio)­organic species adsorbed onto the film, making the surface inhospitable to the settling larvae of fouling organisms, by a free-radical intermediate that prevents the attachment of hard foulants . This semiconductor is highly active under visible radiation and thus it overperforms TiO 2 -based semiconductors, which have been proposed in the past for analogous applications. , …”

“…13 This semiconductor is highly active under visible radiation and thus it overperforms TiO 2 -based semiconductors, which have been proposed in the past for analogous applications. 14,15 Dubbed AquaSun, the recently developed Bi 2 WO 6 coating, typically forms a transparent thin film (3 μm thick) of methylsilica, in which the particles of the semiconductor are homogeneously encapsulated within the ORMOSIL matrix, retaining their flowerlike nanostructure. Using uracil as representative molecular precursor of biofouling, we showed that under irradiation with solar light, the coating degraded about half of 1 ppm uracil in 3 days.…”