Anti-Biofouling of a Novel Cross-Linked Copolymer Containing a HMBA Side Chain

Abstract

Biofouling on underwater engineered structures, especially on ship hulls, results in increased operational and maintenance costs. Fouling is not only of an ecological interest, but it is also important from applied and commercial perspectives. With the development of society, widely used Tributyltin compounds (TBT) for biofouling control have been prohibited worldwide at the end of 2008. The need to develop new environment friendly antifouling agents has been highlighted. Herein we report on the synthesis and characterization of a novel cross-linkable copolymer containing a HMBA side chain. The paper is mainly focused on the synthesis of novel resin and its antifouling performance. Apart from use of acrylate monomer, the two other important monomers γ-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (HD-70) and N-(4-Hydroxy-3-Methoxy-Benzyl) acrylanine (HMBA) were selected to construct low surface energy materials. Finally, the antifouling properties of resins were carried through by the colonization of benthic diatoms (Nitzschia flosterium) and ocean plates of an offshore platform. Experimental results indicated the novel resins containing a HMBA side chain possessing better antifouling properties than a standard polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) coating in the Qingdao ocean.