A hierarchical bio-mimetic surface engineering approach to prevent biofouling by microbial biofilms

生物污垢，即有害生物对表面的定植，对几个重要的工业结构物，如船体、热交换器、传感器和管道都有不利影响。生物污损几乎无处不在，控制它仍然是一个极具挑战性的问题。在各种生物污损相关生物中，微生物是其中之一。微生物的属性使它们能够以被称为生物膜的薄膜的形式‘探索’并在非生物表面定居。这些生物膜可能导致几种不受欢迎的情况，如表面退化和能量损失等问题。事实上，微生物对船体的污染很容易产生10%-15%量级的能源惩罚。目前，需要提供生态友好的解决方案来解决这个问题，这引起了人们对使用表面形貌等方法的重新兴趣，这些方法可以防止或延缓生物污垢的产生。在这种背景下，受生物启发的设计或仿生设计有望非常有前途。拟议的研究计划解决了通过使用创新的分层(多尺度)生物模拟表面形貌来设计新型生物防污表面的挑战。生物材料可以高度组织，在不同的长度尺度上，以具有复杂结构的分层方式，常常产生多功能能力。

Biofouling, or the colonization of surfaces by unwanted organisms, has detrimental effects on several important industrially relevant structures, such as ship hulls, heat exchangers, sensors and pipelines. Biofouling is almost ubiquitous and controlling it remains an extremely challenging problem. Amongst the various biofouling relevant organisms are microbes. Microbes have attributes that allow them to 'explore' and colonize abiotic surfaces in the form of thin films called biofilms. These biofilms can result in several undesirable situations, such as surface degradation and energy losses amongst other issues. In fact, fouling of ship hulls by micro-organisms can easily generate energy penalties of the order of 10-15%. Currently, the need to deliver eco-friendly solutions to this problem is causing renewed interest in approaches such as use of surface topographies, which can prevent or delay biofouling. In this context, biologically inspired designs or biomimetic designs are expected to be very promising. The proposed research program addresses the challenge of designing novel bio-fouling resistant surfaces by using an innovative hierarchical (multi-scale) bio-mimetic surface topography. Biological materials can be highly organized, at various length scales, in a hierarchical manner with intricate structures that often give rise to multi-functional capabilities.