Hydrophilic Self-Replenishing Coatings with Long-Term Water Stability for Anti-Fouling Applications

Abstract

Hydrophilic coatings have recently emerged as a new approach to avoiding the adhesion of (bio)organisms on surfaces immersed in water. In these coatings the hydrophilic character is crucial for the anti-fouling (AF) performance. However, this property can be rapidly lost due to the inevitable damages which occur at the surface, reducing the long-term effectiveness of the AF functionality. We report hydrophilic polycarbonate-poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether (mPEG) polyurethane coatings with tunable hydrophilic properties as well as an excellent and long-term stability in water. The coatings exhibit low protein adhesion values and are able to self-replenish their hydrophilicity after damage, due to the existence of a reservoir of hydrophilic dangling chains incorporated in the bulk. The combination of low T g and sufficient mobility of the mPEG dangling chains (enabled by chains with higher molecular weight) proved to be crucial to ensure autonomous surface hydrophilicity recovery when the coatings were immersed in water. This coatings and design approach offers new possibilities towards high-performance AF coatings with an extended service life-time which can be used in several major applications areas, such as marine and biomedical coatings, with major economic and environmental benefits.

Enhancing the Antibacterial Properties of PVDF Membrane by Hydrophilic Surface Modification Using Titanium Dioxide and Silver Nanoparticles

“…Once the cells irreversibly attached to the surface, they started to produce EPS substances such as carbohydrates and proteins to form biofilm structure, which could completely block the membrane pores at this stage [ 44 ]. It has been proposed that the hydration layer on the hydrophilic surface reduces the adhesion of protein to the surface, resulting in the lower attached cells for biofilm formation [ 45 ].…”

Altered Cell-Substrate Behavior on Microporous Membranes is a Result of Disruption and Grip

“…This in turn results in easier desorption and lower polymer density on the surface. [41][42][43][44] Since patterning of PLL-g-PEG required brief acetone washing to remove photoresist (Figure 1a), the resistance of PLL-g-PEG coating to a 3 second exposure of acetone was evaluated. The acetone exposure did not result in a reduction in the non-fouling properties of PLL-g-PEG ( Figure S1b), enabling us to move forward with the patterning process.…”

Fracture Mechanics Solutions for Interfacial Cracks between Compressible Thin Layers and Substrates

“…The relative error is below 1% for E 1 /E 2 ≥ 200 (α ≥ 0.99) in Equation (20), for E 1 /E 2 ≤ 0.6 (α ≤ −0.25) in Equation (21), and for 0.4 ≤ E 1 /E 2 ≤ 2.1 (−0.44 ≤ α ≤ 0.36) in Equation (22). The equations can be used with confidence for all values of α outside the interval 0.36 < α < 0.99 where the exact analytical solutions in Equations (10) and (A2), or the results in Table 5, should be applied.…”

“…The cracking and spalling of brittle layers may be a consequence of edge loadings [19]. The decohesion of polymer coatings used to protect metals for different applications, e.g., in beverage or food cans, biomedical and mechanical devices, or with anti-fouling functionality, leads to the loss of the protective and aesthetic properties of the coatings [20,21]. Many other thin film applications depend on the adhesion of the film to the substrate [22][23][24].…”