Macromolecular Engineering of the Nanostructured Surface of Fluorinated Block Copolymers for Aquatic Anti-Biofouling

In the present work different classes of fluorinated polymers were prepared with the aim to develop new antifouling/fouling release coatings. In order to avoid any biocidal activity, our strategy consisted of designing materials with anti-adhesion properties versus marine foulants. Low elastic modulus and low surface energy are parameters which both contribute to refrain adhesion and eventually to remove attached aquatic foulants, thus representing the basis for an efficient nonbiocidal antifouling coating. The classes of polymers under consideration were represented by amphiphilic fluorinated polystyrene block copolymers, fluorinated/siloxane graft random copolymers and fluorinated-polysiloxane based block copolymers. The composition of the copolymers was tailored so that varied surface structures and morphologies could be devised. The polymeric materials were characterized in terms of bulk and surface structures and properties. In particular, we highlighted the role of the segregation of the perfluorinated side groups in a nanostructured surface in effecting the surface behaviour of the polymer films. Moreover, different coatings consisting of blends of the amphiphilic fluorinated block copolymers with a thermoplastic elastomer SEBS were prepared with a bilayer strategy and were submitted to biological assays against marine and freshwater organisms with special attention being devoted to establishing correlations between the chemical formulation and the antifouling/fouling release properties of the polymer films.