Solid and liquid repellent coatings for universal fouling prevention

在一项重大的全球挑战中提高可再生能源的效率。尘土覆盖的太阳能电池，被冰锁住的风力涡轮机，或者被海洋污物堵塞的水电站大坝，都会受到界面粘附物的影响，大大降低性能。防止污垢物质积聚的一种策略是使用有效抵抗给定污垢粘附性的防污垢涂层。然而，目前驱避剂系统的效果有限，而且没有可用的技术能够防止各种不同的污垢物质。对于包括各种固体、液体和生物体在内的许多不同的污垢，具有排斥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已开发出能有效防止特定污垢粘连的新型性能。这些进展还没有被纳入粘着模型中，还需要更多的工作来了解这些新的界面现象是如何相互作用的，以及它们在同时排斥多种类型的污垢方面是多么有效。这个研究计划将发展新的基础知识，阐明污垢如何粘在表面上，以及如何通过聚合物力学以合理、统一的方式防止这种粘连。为了从总体上了解污垢，将调查特定的污垢系统，包括冰、藤壶、塑料(在3D打印期间)、熔融金属(在铸造期间)和干燥的泥浆。这些污垢中的每一个都代表了至少一种工程应用，其中污垢的堆积严重阻碍了最佳性能。对于每一种应用，目前都采用了不同的策略来帮助减轻结垢。例如，防水涂料通常可以减轻冰块的积聚，而生物杀菌涂料则可以减轻生物污损。这两种解决方案都不能有效地驱赶另一种污染物，但在北极水域，生物附着和冰层积累对海军舰艇来说都是问题。*本研究项目不是短视地研究犯规，而是从一般的角度来研究犯规。代替表面化学，将利用最近的基于力学的界面空化、界面滑移和界面韧性现象来减少污垢附着力。这三种特性都可以在增塑聚合物中实现，这将为这些研究提供一个模型防污系统。将开发一个包含这些新特性的通用框架来解释增塑聚合物的防污垢行为。利用这一框架，将开发出同时有效地击退几种不同类型的污物的材料。

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.