Tannic Acid-Reinforced Marine Antifouling Network with Dynamic Surface

Abstract

Degradable coatings designed for static antifouling often face issues such as a limited range of antifouling strategies and insufficient adhesion to the substrate. To address these limitations, a tannic acid (TA) -reinforced polymer network is developed, which integrates three synergistic antifouling mechanisms: amphiphilic surface repellency, benzisothiazolinone antifoulant killing, and dynamic surface detachment. The antifouling test reveals that the network exhibits a BSA adsorption capacity of 1.14 ng·cm−2, and the adhesion of P. tricornutum reaches only 2 cells·mm−2, representing a 99.4% reduction compared with commercial self-polishing antifouling coatings. The introduction of TA resulted in the coating having a mass loss of 9.87% after 105 days of immersion, confirming its rapid surface renewal capability in static environments while retaining a lap shear strength exceeding 1.4 MPa in seawater. In addition, the PEC/EC50 values of the released antifoulant for P. tricornutum and Chlorella sp. are well below 1, indicating low environmental toxicity. This high-adhesion antifouling material provides a feasible strategy for the development of next-generation antifouling coatings applicable to shallow marine environments.