A bioinspired platform technology for next-generation functional paints and coatings

对更可持续的油漆和涂料的需求，在干燥时不会释放有害化学物质到环境中，推动了水性产品的重大进展。然而，一种新的制造方法现在对于生产下一代水性油漆和涂料至关重要，以帮助解决紧迫的经济和社会挑战，例如医疗保健相关的感染以及增加可再生能源产量的需求。致病菌在表面上的积累是医疗保健相关感染的主要原因之一，2017年有超过5，500名NHS患者死亡，每年花费NHS超过23亿英镑。因此，迫切需要新型、更有效的抗菌涂层来减少临床表面上的细菌积累，并最大限度地减少医疗相关感染的发生。我的平台技术将进一步为可再生能源领域带来变革。虽然我们可以制造出将45%以上的阳光转化为电能的设备，但大多数太阳能电池板都位于干旱或半干旱地区，由于电池板上积累的灰尘和花粉，它们的效率可能会降低30%。目前，保持太阳能电池板清洁的防污涂料基于氟化成分，这些成分在环境中具有持久的持久性，并且在动物和人类中积累的趋势很高。我提出的制造防污涂料的方法将减少我们对氟化材料的依赖，提高可持续性并降低成本。该奖学金旨在通过开发生物启发平台技术来克服这些挑战，该技术将成为下一代可持续功能性油漆和涂料的跳板。作为这项技术的基础，在热带雨林洪水中幸存下来的昆虫皮肤中发现的结构将使用自组装过程来模仿，其中不同的构建模块在干燥过程中自行排序。这些结构将为涂层提供自清洁性能，其不基于其成分的组成或化学性质（避免对氟化组分的需要），而是基于表面几何形状。然后，该平台技术将首先进行调整，以增加涂层性能，以应对医疗保健相关感染和太阳能电池板效率降低的挑战。为了解决与医疗保健相关的感染问题，将在涂料配方中添加铜或氧化锌纳米颗粒形式的杀死细菌的纳米材料。这些纳米材料的分布将被优化，以将它们定位在涂层的顶面，在那里它们将是最有效的，因为它们将与粘附的细菌接触。这些涂层将在真实的医院环境中进行测试，以量化与未涂覆的表面相比细菌生长的减少。为了提高太阳能电池板的效率，将在涂料配方中加入纳米材料，以提高在干旱气候下的耐磨性。涂层的成分将被调整，以控制其光学特性，并最大限度地减少阳光反射对太阳能电池板效率的不利影响。这些涂层将在位于沙漠中的真实的太阳能平台上进行测试，比较涂层面板与未涂层面板的效率。我的奖学金将是变革性的，重点是复制油漆行业在开发新产品时使用的条件。特别是，将解决在高粘度/厚度涂料中获得相同结构的挑战，这是防止涂料在应用后流挂/滴落所需的。这将与三个工业涂料合作伙伴合作，并准备中试规模的涂料配方，以确保创新和产品开发的路线。

The need for more sustainable paints and coatings, which do not release harmful chemicals into the environment when drying, has driven major recent advances in waterborne products. However, a new manufacturing approach is now crucial to produce the next generation of waterborne paints and coatings to help tackle pressing economic and societal challenges, such as healthcare associated infections and the need to increase our production of renewable energies. The accumulation of pathogenic bacteria on surfaces is one of the leading causes of healthcare associated infections, which killed over 5,500 NHS patients in 2017 and cost the NHS more than £2.3 billion per year. New and more effective antibacterial coatings are therefore urgently needed to reduce bacterial accumulation on clinical surfaces and minimize the occurrence of healthcare-associated infections.My platform technology will further be transformative for the renewable energy sector. Although we can fabricate devices which convert over 45% of sunlight into electricity, most solar panels are located in arid or semi-arid regions, where their efficiency can be reduced by up to 30% because of dust and pollen accumulated on the panels. Currently, the anti-soiling coatings that keep solar panels clean are based on fluorinated components that have a have a long-lasting persistence in the environment and high tendency to accumulate in animals and humans. My proposed approach to fabricate anti-soiling coatings will reduce our dependency on fluorinated materials, increasing sustainability and reducing costs. This Fellowship aims to overcome these challenges by developing a bioinspired platform technology that will act as a springboard for the next generation of sustainable functional paints and coatings. As the base of the technology, structures found in the skin of insects that survive floods in the rainforest will be mimicked using a self-assembly process where the different building blocks order themselves during drying. These structures will provide self-cleaning properties to the coatings that are not based on the composition or chemistry of their ingredients (avoiding the need for fluorinated components) but on the surface geometry. This platform technology will then be adapted initially to add coating properties that will target the challenges of healthcare associated infections and solar panel efficiency reductions. To tackle healthcare associated infections, nanomaterials that kill bacteria, in the form of copper or zinc oxide nanoparticles, will be added to the coating formulation. The distribution of these nanomaterials will be optimized to locate them at the top surface of the coating, where they will be most effective as they will be in contact with adhering bacteria. These coatings will be tested in a real hospital environment, to quantify the reduction in bacterial growth when compared with a surface that has not been coated. To increase the efficiency of solar panels, nanomaterials that increase the resistance to wear and abrasion in arid climates will be added to the coating formulation. The composition of the coatings will be tuned to control their optical properties and minimize the adverse effects that sunlight reflection has on the efficiency of solar panels. The coatings will be tested in a real solar platform located in a desert, comparing the efficiency of a coated panel versus an uncoated one. My Fellowship will be transformative in its focus on reproducing the conditions that the paint industry uses when developing new products. In particular, the challenge of obtaining the same structures in a high viscosity/thickness paint, which is required to prevent paint sagging/dripping after application, will be addressed. This will be done in collaboration with three industrial paint partners, as well as preparing pilot scale paint formulations, to ensure a route towards innovation and product development.