Self-Healing Ionic Liquid-Infused Polysiloxane Achieving Active and Passive Antifouling

Biofouling poses significant challenges to equipment, and liquid-infused surfaces (LIS), a current research hotspot, are faced with dual bottlenecks of self-healing and inefficient passive protection. This study reports an ionic liquid-infused self-healing polysiloxane (SH-L). By combining a weakly polar ionic liquid (IL) with a hydrogen-bonded polysiloxane matrix, an intelligent coating that integrates damage self-healing with active/passive synergistic antifouling has been constructed. The material exhibits self-healing capability at room temperature, with significantly enhanced healing rates after IL phase transition at 38 °C. Regarding antifouling performance, SH-L not only enables fouling release through its liquid-like surface but also achieves surface-environment dual-dimensional active protection through contact killing and photocatalytic antifouling activity. This research provides a new strategy for developing multifunctional integrated antifouling coatings.