The use of copper‐based chemicals to prevent biological growth has been widely practiced in the past. However, leaching of the copper has increased concentrations in ports and marinas, posing a risk to marine life and the environment. It is therefore timely to develop a sustainable antibiofouling coating that could replace conventional copper‐based paints. Herein, the use of cross‐linked polyethylene imine (PEI) coated on conducting carbon cloth electrodes as a material that can absorb copper from seawater and allow for controlled electrochemical release of copper as a biocide to prevent biofouling is proposed. The results show that the porous coating can store and release copper ions over multiple cycles by passing only 1 mA cm⁻² current density through the electrode in artificial seawater. This could enable a closed‐cycle, copper‐based antifouling coating, i.e., a coating that uses the well‐established biocidal activity of copper, but without any net release to the ocean.

中文翻译：

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用于铜离子存储的多孔PEI涂层及其可控的电化学释放

过去，广泛使用铜基化学物质来防止生物生长。但是，铜的浸出增加了港口和码头的浓度，对海洋生物和环境构成了风险。因此，适时开发一种可持续的防污涂料，以取代传统的铜基涂料。在此，提出了使用涂覆在导电碳布电极上的交联聚乙烯亚胺（PEI）作为可从海水中吸收铜并允许铜作为可生物杀灭剂的电化学释放来防止生物污染的材料。结果表明，多孔涂层仅通过1 mA cm ^-2即可在多个循环中存储和释放铜离子。人造海水中通过电极的电流密度。这可以实现封闭循环的铜基防污涂料，即使用成熟的铜杀菌活性而又不向海洋净释放的涂料。