Marine fouling release silicone/carbon nanotube nanocomposite coatings: On the importance of the nanotube dispersion state
Beigbeder, A.; Mincheva, R.; Pettitt, M.; Callow, M.; Callow, J.; Claes, M.; Dubois, P. (2010). Marine fouling release silicone/carbon nanotube nanocomposite coatings: On the importance of the nanotube dispersion state. J. Nanosci. Nanotech. 10(5): 2972-2978. dx.doi.org/10.1166/jnn.2010.2185
In: Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. American Scientific Publishers: Valencia. ISSN 1533-4880; e-ISSN 1533-4899, more
The present work reports on the influence of the dispersion quality of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in a silicone matrix on the marine fouling-release performance of the resulting nanocomposite coatings. A first set of coatings filled with different nanofiller contents was prepared by the dilution of a silicone/MWCNTs masterbatch within a hydrosilylation-curing polydimethylsiloxane resin. The fouling-release properties of the nanocomposite coatings were studied through laboratory assays with the marine alga (seaweed) Ova, a common fouling species. As reported previously (see Ref. [19]), the addition of a small (0.05%) amount of carbon nanotubes substantially improves the fouling-release properties of the silicone matrix. This paper shows that this improvement is dependent on the amount of filler, with a maximum obtained with 0.1 wt% of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The method of dispersion of carbon nanotubes in the silicone matrix is also shown to significantly (p = 0.05) influence the fouling-release properties of the coatings. Dispersing 0.1% MWCNTs using the masterbatch approach yielded coatings with circa 40% improved fouling-release properties over those where MWCNTs were dispersed directly in the polymeric matrix. This improvement is directly related to the state of nanofiller dispersion within the cross-linked silicone coating.
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