Lubricant controlled release silicone fouling release coatings based on mesoporous molecular sieves

Silicone fouling release coatings (FRCs) are biocide-free coatings, and their antifouling performance depends on the nonstick properties and the fouling release behavior. The antifouling performance can be further improved by introducing lubricant into such coatings to form lubricant-infused FRCs (iFRCs). The lubricant will be continuously released to the surface of iFRCs during use, and, in turn, on one hand, the surface of iFRCs will be updated; on the other hand, the attachment of mussels and other organisms will be affected. Inspired by the idea of drug release using porous materials, mesoporous molecular sieves (MMSs), including MCM-41 and SBA-15, were introduced into silicone FRCs in this paper because of their large specific surface area and pore volume. We expected that the release of lubricant could be controlled through MMS in the obtained coatings (iFRC-MMS), so as to obtain FRC with controllable antifouling performance, such as the long-term fouling prevention capacity. Since the release of lubricant usually takes a long time, the effect of MMS on the release of lubricant was studied by an accelerated release test in a good solvent. The surface performance, antifouling performance, and mechanical properties of iFRC-MMS have been studied through the static water contact angle (WCA) measurements, the antidiatom absorption test, and the mechanical performance tests, respectively. Our study demonstrated that: (1) the release of lubricant was indeed affected by MMS in iFRC-MMS as we expected, the release rate can be delayed to a certain extent by both MCM-41 and SBA-15, and (2) there was a compatibility relationship between the pore size of MMS and the molecular size of lubricant, (3) the release of the lubricant was also affected by the molecular weight of lubricant, (4) the intrinsic surface performance and fouling release performance of silicone FRCs were not affected by the introduction of MMS, while the mechanical properties of iFRC-MMS were slightly improved. [GRAPHICS] .