Recent Developments of Nanomaterial Doped Paints for the Minimization of Biofouling in Submerged Structures

Abstract

Biofouling prevention remains a major challenge to the chemists, and researchers around the world who are engaged in the development of antifouling paints that can prevent growth of organisms like barnacles, algae and tubeworms on the submerged structures. Growth of organisms on the surfaces exposed to marine and freshwater environment not only reduces the efficiency of such structures, e.g. reduction of heat transfer etc, but also causes structural damages. In order to prevent the growth of organisms on surfaces of the marine and freshwater environments, coatings containing biocides are generally used. However, use of biocides not only leads to the corrosion of the metallic structures in some cases, but it also inflicts severe damage to the aquatic ecosystem. It is thus necessary to develop anti-biofouling paints that are innocuous to both the environment and the structures. One alternative approach may be incorporation of nanoparticles, and preventing bacterial bio-film formation as well as the attachment of larger organisms. Various nanoparticles of metal and their oxides have been recognized to possess antibacterial properties. The development of such materials is a challenge to both the chemist and the biologist, where effective choice of methods that provide relevant information regarding application of the metal nanoparticles in anti-fouling materials, becomes the central objective. The present article is a short review in the area of nanoparticle doped antifouling paints. In addition, some aspects covering our experimental results on the selected bio-fouling paints with dispersed nanoparticles of ZnO, CuO, Al2O3, MgO, TiO2 and Co3O4. It also discusses the techniques used for the characterization of the nanoparticle-doped materials and methods for the determination of their efficacy against bio-film formation.