Solid and liquid repellent coatings for universal fouling prevention

在重大的全球挑战中提高可再生能源的效率。一个被灰尘覆盖的太阳能电池，一个被冰锁住的风力涡轮机，或者一个被海洋污染物堵塞的水电站，都受到界面附着物的影响，这些附着物会大大降低性能。防止污垢物质积聚的一种策略是使用防污涂层，有效地抵抗给定污垢的粘附。然而，目前的驱避系统的功效是有限的，没有可用的技术能够防止各种不同的污染物质。对许多不同的污染物，包括各种固体、液体和生物，具有驱避性的材料是非常可取的，但它们的发展需要改进对污垢的基本理解。近年来，通过界面聚合物力学，开发出了有效防止特定杂质粘附的新性能。这些发展尚未被纳入粘附模型，需要更多的工作来了解这些新的界面现象如何相互作用，以及它们同时排斥多种类型的污染物的效果如何。该研究项目将开发新的基础知识，阐明污染物是如何附着在表面上的，以及如何通过聚合物力学以合理、统一的方式防止这种附着。为了全面了解污垢，我们将研究特定的污垢系统，包括冰、藤壶、塑料（3D打印期间）、熔融金属（铸造期间）和干泥。这些污物中的每一种都代表了至少一种工程应用，其中污物的积聚极大地阻碍了最佳性能。对于每一种应用，目前都采用了不同的策略来帮助减轻污染。例如，防水性涂料通常可以减轻冰的积聚，而杀菌剂涂料可以减少生物污染。这两种解决方案都不能有效地排斥其他污染物，但在北极水域，生物附着和积冰对海军船只来说都是一个问题。本研究计划从一般的角度来研究犯规，而不是目光短浅地看待犯规。代替表面化学，最近基于力学的界面空化、界面滑移和界面韧性现象将被用来减少污染物的粘附。这三种特性都可以在塑化聚合物中实现，这将作为这些研究的模型防污体系。将开发一个包含这些新特性的通用框架来解释塑化聚合物的防污行为。利用这一框架，将开发出能够同时有效地排斥几种不同类型污垢的材料。

Bolstering the efficiency of renewable energy sources in a major global challenge. A dust-covered solar cell, a wind turbine locked by ice, or a hydroelectric dam clogged by marine foulants all suffer from interfacial adherents that drastically reduce performance. One strategy for preventing the buildup of fouling substances is the use of anti-fouling coatings that effectively resist the adhesion of a given foulant. However, the efficacy of current repellent systems is limited, and no available technologies are capable of preventing a wide range of different fouling substances. Materials whose repellency is generalizable to many different foulants, including various solids, liquids, and organisms, would be highly desirable, but improvements in the fundamental understanding of fouling are needed for their development. In recent years, novel properties have been developed that effectively prevent the adhesion of specific foulants via interfacial polymer mechanics. These developments have yet to be incorporated into models of adhesion, and more work is needed to understand how these new interfacial phenomenon interact with one another, and how effective they are at repelling multiple types of foulants concomitantly.This research program will develop new, fundamental knowledge elucidating how foulants adhere to surfaces, and how this adhesion can be prevented in a rational, unified manner via polymer mechanics. To understand fouling in general, specific foulant systems will be investigated, including ice, barnacles, plastics (during 3D printing), molten metals (during casting), and dried mud. Each of these foulants represents at least one engineering application where the accretion of the foulant drastically hinders optimal performance. And for each application, currently a different strategy has been adopted to help mitigate the fouling. For example, ice accretion is typically mitigated by water-repellent coatings, and biofouling is lessened by biocidal paints. Neither solution is effective at repelling the other foulant, but in Arctic waters both biological attachment and ice accumulation are problematic for naval vessels. Rather than approaching fouling myopically, this research program investigates fouling from a general perspective. Instead of surface chemistry, the recent mechanics-based phenomena of interfacial cavitation, interfacial slippage, and interfacial toughness will be utilized to reduce the foulant adhesion. These three properties can all be realized in plasticized polymers, which will serve as a model anti-fouling system for these studies. A generalizable framework that incorporates these new properties will be developed to explain the anti-fouling behavior of plasticized polymers. Using this framework, materials will be developed that can effectively repel several different types of foulants simultaneously.