Paper MB+BI-MoA10
Development of Environmentally Benign and Durable Nonfouling Marine Coatings

Monday, October 15, 2007, 5:00 pm, Room 609

Biofouling on ship hulls and other marine surfaces has become a global environmental and economic issue. Traditionally, the best antifouling coating is TBT (tributyltin)-based paint. Due to increased environmental concern, TBT antifouling coatings have been restricted. Non-toxic, fouling-release coatings based on silicone or fluorinated compounds are under development. These coatings are only effective on vessels moving at high speeds. Currently, we are developing environmentally benign, durable, and cost-effective nonfouling coatings, to which marine microorganisms can not attach, as the next-generation marine coatings. In this work, zwitterionic-based materials will be shown to be effective against various marine microorganisms in laboratory and field tests. We have demonstrated for the first time that poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) [p(SBMA)] and poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) [p(CBMA)] based materials and coatings are superlow biofouling. In addition, we have explored various approaches to apply p(SBMA) or p(CBMA) materials onto surfaces and developed several noncoatings for marine applications. Laboratory tests confirmed the excellent performance of sulfobetaine (SB)-based coatings against marine microorganisms (Ulva spores and barnacle cypris larvae). Recently, we developed SB-based paints and spray-coated them onto surfaces covered with an epoxy primer. Initial field tests of these panels clearly demonstrated that our coatings effectively deferred the settlement of hard foulants. Because of their excellent stability and high effectiveness at preventing microorganisms from adhering to surfaces, SB and carboxybetaine-based materials are excellent candidates for marine coatings. The objective of our work is to create products that will effectively defer biofouling under static conditions over a long period of time.