Critical Amphiphilic Concentration: Effect of the Extent of Amphiphilicity on Marine Fouling-Release Performance

Amphiphilic surfaces, containing both hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains, offer desirable performance for many applications such as marine coatings or anti-icing purposes. This work explores the effect of concentration amphiphilic moieties on converting a polyurethane (PU) system to coating having fouling-release properties. A novel compound is synthesized added at increasing amounts PU system, where amount additive only variable in study. The additive-modified surfaces are characterized by variety techniques including ATR-FTIR, XPS, contact angle measurements, AFM. Surface characterizations indicate presence domains surface due introduction self-stratifying additive. properties assessed with three biological assays using Ulva linza, Cellulophaga lytica, Navicula Incerta test organisms. change observed plateaued once certain amphiphilicity attained which we call critical (CAC).