Marine Biofouling Resistance of Polyurethane with Biodegradation and Hydrolyzation

We have prepared polyurethane with poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) as the segments of the main chain and poly(triisopropylsilyl acrylate) (PTIPSA) as the side chains by a combination of radical polymerization and a condensation reaction. Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation studies show that polyurethane can degrade in the presence of enzyme and the degradation rate decreases with the PTIPSA content. Our studies also demonstrate that polyurethane is able to hydrolyze in artificial seawater and the hydrolysis rate increases as the PTIPSA content increases. Moreover, hydrolysis leads to a hydrophilic surface that is favorable to reduction of the frictional drag under dynamic conditions. Marine field tests reveal that polyurethane has good antifouling ability because polyurethane with a biodegradable PCL main chain and hydrolyzable PTIPSA side chains can form a self-renewal surface. Polyurethane was also used to carry and release a relatively environmentally friendly antifoulant, and the combined system exhibits a much higher antifouling performance even in a static marine environment.

Publication year: 2014
Authors: Wentao Xu 1, Chunfeng Ma 1, Jielin Ma 1, Tiansheng Gan 1, Guangzhao Zhang 2
Affiliations:

2 – Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China

Published in: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2014, Vol. 6, Issue 6, p. 4017–4024
DOI: 10.1021/am4054578

MP-SPR KEYWORDS

dry mass Enzymatic degradation polyurethane film

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