Premium
Thermoregeneration of Plastrons on Superhydrophobic Coatings for Sustained Antifouling Properties
Author(s) -
Simovich Tomer,
Rosenhahn Axel,
Lamb Robert N.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.201900806
Subject(s) - biofouling , materials science , solvation , solubility , volume (thermodynamics) , coating , nanotechnology , underwater , surface energy , chemical engineering , drag , layer (electronics) , composite material , chemistry , mechanics , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , ion , biochemistry , physics , engineering , oceanography , geology , membrane
A popular and desirable function of superhydrophobic coatings is their remarkable ability to retain an entrapped layer of air, called a plastron, when submerged underwater. The drawback is that the air layer is short‐lived due to solvation into the surrounding liquid. While manipulating the solubility of gases using temperature is a possible approach, it generally requires inefficiently heating large volumes of water. Following the demonstrated ability to maintain air bubbles on superhydrophobic surfaces for drag reduction, this article introduces a novel method of extracting gas from water to replenish and stabilize the plastron on superhydrophobic surfaces for sustained antifouling abilities. This method involves locally heating the liquid surrounding a superhydrophobic coating, reducing gas solubility, and causing the gas to nucleate at the liquid–air interface. The approach requires a relatively low energy input, due to the small volume of locally heated water. With a constant supply of equilibrated water and minimal energy input, the plastron can survive indefinitely without the need for a mechanical delivery of air. The thermoregenerating superhydrophobic samples were shown to exhibit excellent antifouling behavior and inhibited diatom attachment over a period of 5 days.