Cuttlebone-inspired Cu(I)-MOF/hydrogel composites with enhanced antifouling and mechanical properties

Marine biofouling poses serious safety risks to offshore infrastructures and leads to substantial economic losses. Although hydrogels have shown significant promise in marine antifouling applications, developing antifouling hydrogels that simultaneously possess excellent mechanical strength and strong antifouling efficiency remains a major challenge. Herein, a high-performance antifouling hydrogel was constructed by incorporating hollow glass microspheres functionalized with a Cu(I) based metal-organic framework (Cu(I)-MOFs) into a poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PVA/PSBMA) double-network matrix. The as-developed Cu(I)-MOFs/hydrogel composite integrates excellent antifouling and mechanical properties, achieving protein and algal resistance of 99.8% and 99.9%, respectively, as well as a high antibacterial rate of 99.6%. Importantly, the composite reaches a compressive strength of 5.35 MPa, outperforming many existing antifouling hydrogels, and demonstrates low swelling with reliable performance in seawater. In a 100-day field test in a real marine environment, the fouling coverage of as-prepared hydrogel was as low as 0.12%. This work offers an effective and feasible strategy for preventing marine biofouling and also pioneers a new approach for hydrogel applications. Download: Download high-res image (395KB) Download: Download full-size image