An Antifouling Coating Based on Tannic Acid: An Eco-Friendly Strategy for Antioxidant Removal of Reactive Oxygen Species

As a kind of natural polyphenolic antioxidants, tannic acid (TA) has a wide range of sources and biosafety, excellent antibacterial properties and its special chemical structure makes it easy to bind to the surface, which may provide inspiration for the development of antifouling materials. In this paper, a TA-based antifouling coating was designed and prepared. A stable intermediate transition layer was formed by co-deposited 3,4-dihydroxy phenyl-L-alanine (DOPA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) on the surface of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and then TA molecules were grafted on the surface to prepare a TA functionalized (PVC/(PDA/PEI)-TA) coating. The effect of the coating on the adhesion of marine bacteria, benthic diatoms and mussels was investigated. The results indicated that the coating had good antifouling performance. Marine bacteria and benthic diatoms had a low adhesion rate on the coating surface and were prone to the detachment under water flow erosion. The TA on the coating surface affected the adhesion behavior of mussels, which only secreted a small amount of adhesive plaques on the surface, and the adhesion force between the plaques and the substrate became low. This study may provide new solutions to marine biofouling.