Preparation of a self-healing silicone coating for inhibiting adhesion of benthic diatoms

This work reports a silicone coating (PDMS-UIa) with marine antifouling and self-healing properties, which was prepared by the first synthesis of polydimethylsiloxane polymer containing imine and urea groups and then adding a small amount of eco-friendly antifoulant. The characteristic structure of the polymer was verified via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The PDMS-UIa coating has rapid self-repairing performance, excellent transparency and the ability to control the release of antifouling agents at a certain rate. The adhesion experiment using four typical benthic diatoms indicated that the PDMS-UIa coating can effectively inhibit the attachment of diatoms, which effectively improves the static antifouling ability of silicone materials.