Preparation And Antifouling Performance Of Carbon/Metal Composites

Marine biofouling is a worldwide problem, and this unwanted colonization hasserious impacts when human develop and utilize the ocean. Using marine antifoulingcoatings is the most effective way for avoiding marine organism attachment. Silvernanoparticles with broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and low toxicity towardsmammalian cells at a small concentration, have played the role of biodides; however,they show poor compatibility with resin. To solve this problem, three kinds ofcarbon/silver and one type of carbon/copper composites were designed and preparedin view of superior antifouling property of silver nanoparticles and good bonding withcarbon materials. The structures and growth mechanism of carbon/metal compositeswere investigated, and the antifouling properties towards bacteria and alga were alsodiscussed.1. Radio frequency plasma (RF plasma) and calcination were carried out toreduce Ag+to silver nanoparticles loaded on aminated carbon nanotubes (A-CNTs).The particle sizes of silver nanoparticles were3.8nm and25.5nm respectively. Theformation of narrowly distributed and highly dispersed silver nanoparticles on CNTsduring RF plasma treatment was studied. Compared with Ag/A-CNTs produced bycalcination, the antifouling properties of Ag/A-CNTs prepared by RF plasma weremore effective because of the smaller paticle size of silver nanoparticles with exposedAg (111) plane.2. Carbon microspheres (CMSs) were prepared by glucose hydrothermal method.The effects of glucose concentration and reaction time on the size and morphology ofCMSs were studied. RF plasma was employed to reduce Ag+ions to metallic nano-particles with the particle size of10~20nm. The formation mechanism of Ag-decorated CMSs structure was discussed. Plasma-produced Ag/CMSs showed goodantibacterial property and alga inhibition.3. Ag@C composite microspheres were fabricated via a one-pot method usingglucose and AgNO3under hydrothermal conditions. The structures and morphologiesof Ag@C at different reaction times were characterized and the evolution of Ag@Cwas proposed. The binding energy calculated by density functional theory betweenglucose with Ag (111) and Ag (100) were105.46and92.77kJ/mol, respectively,which explains the morphology change at a molecular level. Ag@C showed good antifouling properties, andAg+release was tunable by the controlled carbon shell.4. Ultra-dispersed Cu@C spherical structure has been synthesized by one-pothydrothermal method using glucose, CuNO3·3H2O and cetyl trimethylammoniumbromide (CTAB). The reaction conditions for ultra-dispersed Cu@C were discussedand the optimum parameters were: CCTAB=0.05mol/L, Cglucose=0.10mol/L, CCu2+=0.02mol/L, T=180℃, t=16h, and a possible growth mechanism of ultra-dispersed Cu@Cwas proposed. The results of antifouling tests show that ultra-dispersed Cu@C wassuitable for potential biological and environmental applications.