Application of Robotic Combinatorial Methods for the Synthesis and Screening of Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Marine Coatings

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A combinatorial robotic workflow has been developed and implemented at North Dakota State University for the synthesis and screening of marine coatings. Several traditional tools and methods for characterizing polymers and coatings have been customized for 24 to 96 well array formats. The goal of the workflow is to more efficiently screen polymer and coating compositions that possess superior qualities for antifouling and/or fouling release performance in marine environments. These methods included screening for bulk mechanical properties such as glass transition temperature and modulus, surface properties such as surface energy, psuedobarnacle adhesion, barnacle adhesion, bacterial biofilm growth and retention, and bacterial biofilm retraction. These combinatorial techniques were applied to the screening of several organic-inorganic coating libraries that possessed systematic variations in composition. Promising candidates were identified with these assays and subsequently tested at an ocean field test site. The results demonstrate the utility of these methods for down-selecting promising candidates for further evaluation.

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Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Technical Proceedings of the 2007 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 2
Published: May 20, 2007
Pages: 76 - 79
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Personal & Home Care, Food & Agriculture
Topics: Advanced Materials for Engineering Applications, Personal & Home Care, Food & Agriculture
ISBN: 1-4200-6183-6