Poly(propylene carbonate) polyurethane self-polishing coating for marine antifouling application

In this contribution, a series of environmentally friendly thermoplastic poly(propylene carbonate) polyurethane (PPCU) were prepared by two-step condensation polymerization and used to fabricate antifouling coatings. The poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) segments served as degradable moieties. Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) measurements revealed that the polyurethane could degrade in the presence of enzyme and the degradation rate increases with the decrease of the molecular weight of the polyurethane. Investigation on the hydrolytic degradation behavior and the release rate test of the antifoulants in artificial seawater also demonstrated that the hydrolysis rate and the release rate increased as the molecular weight decreased, which makes the coating controllable at the hydrolysis rate range of 0.012–0.051 g/(m 2 d). Marine field tests and algae settlement assay tests revealed that the polyurethane coating possessed antibiofouling ability due to its self-renewal property and the release of antifoulants. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133 , 43667.