| Biofouling describes an undesirable accumulation of biological molecules, cells and organisms settling on a surface.1 Biofouling is challenging for the shipping industry and U.S. Navy. The fouling accumulation on ship hull causes drag during navigation and thus, a ship loses fuel efficiency. The cost for the periodical hull coating and cleaning, and the repair due to the hull corrosion caused by marine biofouling, exceeds 600 million a year for the shipping industry and U.S. Navy.2 The motivation of this research is based upon a critical need for an effective marine antifouling and fouling release surface that is environmentally neutral.;This work is focused on modification of silicon-based materials, i.e., the glass and poly(dimethylsiloxane) elastomer (PDMSe). A novel method, which combines the thiolene chemistry and the surface coupling technique, was developed to graft acrylate-based copolymers onto glass and PDMSe surfaces. Low molar mass copolymers (5 - 8 kg/mol) consisted of polyacrylic acid (PAA), polyacrylamide (PAAm), polymethyl acrylate (PMA), polyacrylamido-2-methyl-propanesulfonic acid (PAMPS) were synthesized with varied compositions. The copolymer-grafted glass surfaces showed a 92% reduction of Ulva zoospore attachment to the PDMSe standard. An enhanced fouling resistance to the Ulva zoospore (97% reduction to the PDMSe standard) was achieved by combing this surface chemistry with the surface topography, i.e., Sharklet™.;The antifouling and fouling release properties of the copolymer-grafted PDMSe was also examined using another common marine organism, i.e., Navicula diatoms. The result indicated an 87% reduction to the PDMSe standard on the initial diatoms cells attachment, and more than 60% removal after exposed to a low shear (26 MPa).;This work also focused on the response of Ulva zoospores to the PEGylated polymer, i.e., poly(oligo-ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (POEGMEMA), with varied chain architectures tuned by the monomer side chain length and brush molar mass. The assay result indicated that the surfaces with longer POEGMEMA side chain lengths were more resistant to the zoospore settlement, but only weak correlations could be found between the fouling resistance and the brush molar mass. (Full text of this dissertation may be available via the University of Florida Libraries web site. Please check http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/etd.html). |
