Enhanced antifouling performance of PDMS/Ti3C2 nanocomposite coatings via Pickering emulsion approach

Abstract

MXene has recently attracted a lot of attention due to its unique properties including its antibacterial property. Nevertheless, the antibacterial performance of MXene depends on its distribution at the surface of coatings. In this study, Ti₃C₂ nanosheets were modified by hexyltrimethoxysilane and further used as Pickering emulsifier to emulsify vinyl (or hydrogen) dimethicone at different proportions. Afterwards, the as-obtained vinyl dimethicone Pickering emulsion, hydrogen dimethicone Pickering emulsion, and Karstedt catalyst emulsion were simply mixed to get waterborne cross-linkable PDMS/Ti₃C₂ nanocomposite coatings (HTCP) Compared with solvent-based counterpart (HTCS), HTC-P coating has more Ti₃C₂ distributed at the surface, which favors their resistance to protein adhesion and algal colonization. The anti-algae property to Chlorella of HTC-P coating is nearly 10 times and 4 times higher than that of PDMS coating and HTC-S coating, respectively. The antibacterial performance of HTC-P coating is also quite excellent, of which the antibacterial performance of HTC-P coating containing 4 wt% modified Ti₃C₂ nanosheets reaches 99 % of antibacterial rate against Escherichia coli and 100 % against Shewanella loihica Meanwhile, the HTC-P coating possesses strong mechanical properties and fouling releasing performance. The mechanism for the distribution of Ti₃C₂ nanosheets at the surface of HTC-P coating was also discussed.