Development of Eco-Friendly Hydrophobic and Fouling-Release Coatings for Blue-Growth Environmental Applications: Synthesis, Mechanical Characterization and Biological Activity

Sfameni, Silvia; Rando, Giulia; Marchetta, Alessia; Scolaro, Cristina; Cappello, Simone; Urzì, Clara; Visco, Annamaria; Plutino, Maria Rosaria

doi:10.3390/gels8090528

Open AccessArticle

Development of Eco-Friendly Hydrophobic and Fouling-Release Coatings for Blue-Growth Environmental Applications: Synthesis, Mechanical Characterization and Biological Activity

by

Silvia Sfameni

^1,2,

Giulia Rando

^2,3

,

Alessia Marchetta

³

,

Cristina Scolaro

¹

,

Simone Cappello

⁴,

Clara Urzì

^3,*

,

Annamaria Visco

^1,5,*

and

Maria Rosaria Plutino

^2,*

¹

Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Contrada di Dio, S. Agata, 98166 Messina, Italy

²

Institute for the Study of Nanostructured Materials, ISMN—CNR, Palermo, c/o Department of ChiBioFarAm, University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, Vill. S. Agata, 98166 Messina, Italy

³

Department of ChiBioFarAm, University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, Vill. S. Agata, 98166 Messina, Italy

⁴

Institute for Biological Resource and Marine Biotechnology (IRBIM)-CNR of Messina, Spianata S. Raineri 86, 98122 Messina, Italy

⁵

Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials-CNR IPCB, Via Paolo Gaifami 18, 95126 Catania, Italy

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Gels 2022, 8(9), 528; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels8090528

Submission received: 31 July 2022 / Revised: 19 August 2022 / Accepted: 20 August 2022 / Published: 23 August 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Gels for Agricultural and Environmental Applications)

Download

Browse Figures

Versions Notes

Abstract

The need to ensure adequate antifouling protection of the hull in the naval sector led to the development of real painting cycles, which involve the spreading of three layers of polymeric material on the hull surface exposed to the marine environment, specifically defined as primer, tie coat and final topcoat. It is already well known that coatings based on suitable silanes provide an efficient and non-toxic approach for the hydrophobic and antifouling/fouling release treatment of surfaces. In the present work, functional hydrophobic hybrid silica-based coatings (topcoats) were developed by using sol-gel technology and deposited on surfaces with the “doctor blade” method. In particular, those organic silanes, featuring opportune functional groups such as long (either fluorinated) alkyl chains, have a notable influence on surface wettability as showed in this study. Furthermore, the hydrophobic behavior of this functionalized coating was improved by introducing an intermediate commercial tie-coat layer between the primer and the topcoat, in order to decrease the wettability (i.e., decreasing the surface energy with a matching increase in the contact angle, CA) and to therefore make such coatings ideal for the design and development of fouling release paints. The hereby synthesized coatings were characterized by optical microscopy, contact angle analysis and a mechanical pull-off test to measure the adhesive power of the coating against a metal substrate typically used in the nautical sector. Analysis to evaluate the bacterial adhesion and the formation of microbial biofilm were related in laboratory and simulation (microcosm) scales, and assessed by SEM analysis.

Keywords: sol-gel technique; fouling release; hydrophobicity; wettability; adhesion

Graphical Abstract

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Sfameni, S.; Rando, G.; Marchetta, A.; Scolaro, C.; Cappello, S.; Urzì, C.; Visco, A.; Plutino, M.R. Development of Eco-Friendly Hydrophobic and Fouling-Release Coatings for Blue-Growth Environmental Applications: Synthesis, Mechanical Characterization and Biological Activity. Gels 2022, 8, 528. https://doi.org/10.3390/gels8090528

AMA Style

Sfameni S, Rando G, Marchetta A, Scolaro C, Cappello S, Urzì C, Visco A, Plutino MR. Development of Eco-Friendly Hydrophobic and Fouling-Release Coatings for Blue-Growth Environmental Applications: Synthesis, Mechanical Characterization and Biological Activity. Gels. 2022; 8(9):528. https://doi.org/10.3390/gels8090528

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sfameni, Silvia, Giulia Rando, Alessia Marchetta, Cristina Scolaro, Simone Cappello, Clara Urzì, Annamaria Visco, and Maria Rosaria Plutino. 2022. "Development of Eco-Friendly Hydrophobic and Fouling-Release Coatings for Blue-Growth Environmental Applications: Synthesis, Mechanical Characterization and Biological Activity" Gels 8, no. 9: 528. https://doi.org/10.3390/gels8090528

APA Style

Sfameni, S., Rando, G., Marchetta, A., Scolaro, C., Cappello, S., Urzì, C., Visco, A., & Plutino, M. R. (2022). Development of Eco-Friendly Hydrophobic and Fouling-Release Coatings for Blue-Growth Environmental Applications: Synthesis, Mechanical Characterization and Biological Activity. Gels, 8(9), 528. https://doi.org/10.3390/gels8090528

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

Development of Eco-Friendly Hydrophobic and Fouling-Release Coatings for Blue-Growth Environmental Applications: Synthesis, Mechanical Characterization and Biological Activity

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI