Design and testing of smart antifouling materials: beyond biocidal approaches

智能防污材料的设计和测试：超越杀菌方法

• 批准号: 2824991
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Durham University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2824991
• 关键词: Design; testing; smart; antifouling; materials

The fouling of surfaces in contact with liquids and in particular biofouling creates important and costly problems, for example to buildings and to the hull of ships. In the shipping industry alone, the problem of bio-fouling costs more than £4 billion every year. Aside from the issue of costs, it is responsible for significant pollution due to excess fuel being used. Antifoulings are therefore critical to make ships more efficient. Most current antifouling strategies rely on the progressive release of biocidal chemicals. While effective at preventing fouling, this creates a separate environmental problem with measurable depletion of certain organisms in dense water ways. One possible way forward is to develop new surfaces able to control the behaviour of water and fouling organisms at the nanoscale, potentially preventing the conditioning for fouling and the need for biocidals. This project aims to exploits recent advances in atomic force microscopy to gain new, molecular-level insights into the interface between coatings and liquids containing fouling agents, focusing on (i) local liquid dynamics, (ii) details of the fouling adhesion and (iii) the ageing of the surface. Some topic of research could include: - Nanoscale mapping of the hydrophobicity/philicity of the surface when immersed in different relevant conditions (Fig. 1),- Local liquid shear dynamics at the surface of coatings, - Quantification of the adhesion of fouling agents at different location of surfaces of interest, including variation over time,- Quantification of the adhesion of single, whole living organisms (e.g. unicellulars) on coatings,- Effect of ageing on the surface properties at the nano and macro scale.The project will help develop in-situ nanoscale understanding of well-established anti-fouling strategies, map their function with molecular precision and identify strength and weaknesses. This should provide unprecedented insights into fouling process and identify any scale-dependent effect. Results will help design better coating that can also exploit liquid flow and bio-adhesion at all scales simultaneously. Aside from contributing directly to the development of novel, more ecological products for AkzoNobel (impact beyond academia), the strategy and goals are in themselves highly ethical and in line with Responsible Innovation. A success would help reduce carbon emissions, global fuel consumption all while helping to better preserve marine life.

与液体接触的表面的污垢，特别是生物污垢，会产生重要的和昂贵的问题，例如对建筑物和船体。仅在航运业，每年因生物污染造成的损失就超过40亿英镑。除了成本问题外，由于过度使用燃料，它还造成了严重的污染。因此，防污对于提高船舶效率至关重要。大多数目前的防污策略依赖于生物杀灭化学物质的逐步释放。这在有效防止污染的同时，也造成了一个单独的环境问题，即在密集的水域中某些生物的可测量损耗。一种可能的方法是开发新的表面，能够在纳米尺度上控制水和污垢生物的行为，潜在地防止污垢的调节和对杀菌剂的需求。该项目旨在利用原子力显微镜的最新进展，以获得新的分子水平的洞察涂层和含有污垢剂的液体之间的界面，重点关注(i)局部液体动力学，（ii）污垢粘附的细节和（iii）表面老化。一些研究主题可以包括：-在不同相关条件下，表面的疏水性/亲水性的纳米尺度映射（图1），-涂层表面的局部液体剪切动力学，-污染剂在感兴趣的表面不同位置的附着力的量化，包括随时间的变化，-单个，整个生物体（例如单细胞）在涂层上的附着力的量化，-老化对纳米和宏观尺度上表面性能的影响。该项目将有助于开发已经建立的防污策略的纳米级原位理解，以分子精度绘制其功能，并确定其优点和缺点。这将为污垢过程提供前所未有的见解，并确定任何规模依赖的影响。结果将有助于设计更好的涂层，也可以同时利用所有尺度的液体流动和生物粘附。除了直接为阿克苏诺贝尔开发新颖、更生态的产品（超越学术界的影响）做出贡献外，阿克苏诺贝尔的战略和目标本身也是高度道德的，符合负责任的创新。成功将有助于减少碳排放，全球燃料消耗，同时有助于更好地保护海洋生物。