Antibiofouling Performance of a Metal-Organic Gel Based on 2-Amino-5-Mercapto-1,3,4-Thiadiazole and CuI

Metal–organic gels or metallogels (MOGs), which usually made up with metal ions and organic ligands, are promising in the area of medicine, environment, and biology. Herein, a new metal–organic gel containing Cu + (Cu-MOG-5) is prepared at room temperature using 2-amino-5-mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (AMT) and CuI. Considering the excellent low surface energy characteristics of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the as-prepared Cu-MOG-5 is infused into porous PDMS to obtain Cu-MOG-5/PDMS coating, which combines the bactericidal properties of Cu + containing hydrogels and the low surface energy of PDMS. The morphology of the Cu-MOG-5 and Cu-MOG-5/PDMS coating is investigated by FE-SEM, and the structure of the new Cu-MOG-5 is verified by FT-IR, 1 H NMR, XPS, EDS, and elemental analysis. The antibiofouling properties are assessed using Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) and mussel. The results show that the newly prepared Cu-MOG-5/PDMS coating exhibits superior antibiofouling performance because of the synchronous action of hydrogel including Cu + and PDMS.