Szapoczka Wiktoria K, Larsen Viljar H, Böpple Hanna, Kleinegris Dorinde M M, Diao Zhaolu, Skodvin Tore, Spatz Joachim P, Holst Bodil, Thomas Peter J
University of Bergen, Department of Physics and Technology, Bergen 5007, Norway.
NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS, Bergen 5008, Norway.
ACS Omega. 2024 Sep 12;9(38):39464-39471. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.4c03030. eCollection 2024 Sep 24.
Biofouling is one of the key factors which limits the long-term performance of seawater sensors. Common measures to hinder biofouling include toxic paints, mechanical cleaning and UV radiation. All of these measures have various limitations. A very attractive solution would be to prevent biofilm formation by changing the surface structure of the sensor. This idea has been implemented successfully in various settings, but little work has been done on structuring optically transparent materials, which are often needed in sensor applications. In order to achieve good antibiofouling properties and efficient optical transparency, the structuring must be on the nanoscale. Here, we investigate a transparent, antibiofouling surface obtained by patterning a semihexagonal nanohole structure on borosilicate glass. The nanoholes are approximately 50 nm in diameter and 200 nm deep, and the interparticle distance is 135 nm, allowing the structure to be optically transparent. The antibiofouling properties of the surface were tested by exposing the substrates to the microalgae for four different time intervals. This species was chosen because it is common in the Norwegian coastal waters. The tests were compared with unstructured borosilicate glass substrates. The experiments show that the nanostructured surface exhibits excellent antibiofouling properties. We attribute this effect to the relative size between the structure and the biofouling microorganism. Specifically, the small dimensions of the nanoholes, compared to the biofouling microorganism, make it more difficult for the microalgae to attach. However, lubrication of the substrates with FC-70 perfluorocarbon resulted in contamination at a rate comparable to the reference substrate, possibly due to the chemical attractiveness of the alkane chains in FC-70 for the microalgae.
生物污损是限制海水传感器长期性能的关键因素之一。阻碍生物污损的常见措施包括使用有毒涂料、机械清洗和紫外线辐射。所有这些措施都有各种局限性。一个非常有吸引力的解决方案是通过改变传感器的表面结构来防止生物膜形成。这个想法已经在各种环境中成功实施，但在构建传感器应用中经常需要的光学透明材料方面所做的工作很少。为了实现良好的抗生物污损性能和高效的光学透明度，这种结构必须在纳米尺度上。在这里，我们研究了一种通过在硼硅酸盐玻璃上形成半六边形纳米孔结构而获得的透明抗生物污损表面。纳米孔直径约为50纳米，深度为200纳米，颗粒间距离为135纳米，使得该结构具有光学透明性。通过将基板暴露于微藻中四个不同的时间间隔来测试表面的抗生物污损性能。选择这种物种是因为它在挪威沿海水域很常见。将测试结果与未结构化的硼硅酸盐玻璃基板进行比较。实验表明，纳米结构化表面表现出优异的抗生物污损性能。我们将这种效应归因于结构与生物污损微生物之间的相对尺寸。具体来说，与生物污损微生物相比，纳米孔的小尺寸使得微藻更难附着。然而，用FC - 70全氟碳对基板进行润滑会导致污染速率与参考基板相当，这可能是由于FC - 70中的烷烃链对微藻具有化学吸引力。
