Integrated manufacturing of REciclable multi-material COmposites for the TRANSport sector

Sea vessels and artificial sea?based structures like marine oil and gas platforms are severely affected by biofouling, i.e. the formation of thick deposits of living and dead marine organisms that belong to different species and range in size from unicellular bacteria to multicellular seaweed and mussels. This is a significant engineering problem since they essentially alter the geometry of the hull, increasing friction and reducing the speed of vessels, thus increasing the cost and environmental footprint of transportation. Given the scale of global transportation reaches several billion tons per year, the socioeconomic consequences of the reduction in transit speed and increased consumption of fuel continue to drive researchers and engineers to develop strategies by to combat the processes of marine biofouling. Many types of antifouling paints, coatings and materials that have been designed and tested, and in some instances used commercially, suffer from a range of shortcomings, from environmental toxicity to limited efficiency and durability. In this review paper, we present a brief overview of the traditional antifouling materials, and discuss recent achievements in the design of advanced antifouling materials based on such nanomaterials as graphene, nanotubes, nanoparticles, and more complex nanostructures. These materials exhibit excellent antifouling properties and could drive a breakthrough in how we tackle marine biofouling.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

» Author: I. Levchenko, A. Kumar, A. AL-Jumaili, O. Bazaka, E. P. Ivanova, C. Riccardi, H. E. Roman, S. Xu, M. V. Jacob, O. Baranov, K. Bazaka

» Publication Date: 23/11/2023

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