Study on the bactericidal performance of graphene/TiO2 composite photocatalyst in the coating of PEVE

Marine fouling organisms attachment can bring serious damage to ships and marine facilities. Thus, we modified the hydrophobic fluorocarbon resin coating (PEVE) which was widely used in marine hulls. In this study, graphene/TiO 2 nanocomposite photocatalysts have been taken as the raw material of the modification to prepare the composite coatings with anti-fouling performance through a sample method. The results of our experiment demonstrate that when the mass ratio of rGO to TiO 2 is 1:100, the composite coating exhibits the best antibacterial property. This coating could kill the vast majority of the bacteria which attached to its surface after one hour of exposure to ultraviolet light, and this sterilization performance is much higher than pure PEVE and TiO 2 /PEVE coatings. In this composite system, graphene plays an important role in enhancing the coatings performance. For one thing, the heterojunction formed by graphene and TiO 2 can effectively increase the hydroxyl radical yields of TiO 2 . For another, the conjugated structure of graphene can effectively reduce the phenomenon of hydrophobicity reduction which is caused by the addition of TiO 2 and then decrease the risk of hull corrosion availably.