New anti fouling coatings based on conductive polymers.

PDFTech ReportURITC Project No. 0001032Antifouling coatingsFouling (Naval architecture)Underwater paintPolymersRhode IslandUniversity Transportation Centers Program (U.S.)Yang, Sze C.Brown, RichardRamotowski, ThomasTucker, WayneMaranda, LucieChena, RyanShen, MaeUniversity of Rhode Island. Dept. of ChemistryUniversity of Rhode Island. Transportation CenterUniversity Transportation Centers Program (U.S.)US Transportation CollectionTraditional antifouling paints were designed to release toxins from the surface of the paint to prevent micro-organisms attaching to the surface. The toxicity of the released chemical species has been found to be damaging to the marine ecology and poses problems for the environment. In this research, the possibility for an alternative method for reducing biofouling was explored. An electrically conductive polymer was used as an additive to commercial paints such as polyurethane and epoxy. Laboratory tests in seawater showed that the conducting polymer based paint does not release toxic chemicals unlike the copper containing paint which was toxic to the surrounding environment. Another laboratory test was performed to verify that the conducting polymer has antifouling property. The 5% conducting polymer paints showed resistance to biofouling relative to that of the control sample in a time window of 1 month before both samples were fouled with algae growth. A series of field tests showed that there is a moderate delay of fouling of 3 weeks to 1 month compared with control panels with the same commercial paint without the conducting polymer additive. The conducting polymers eventually fouled. With a relatively short period of antifouling activity of 1 month, it was concluded that the present formulation is not yet a viable replacement for copper based antifouling paint