Abstract Hydrogel coatings effectively reduce the attachment of proteins and organisms in laboratory assays, in particular when made from zwitterionic monomers. In field experiments with multiple species and non-living material, such coatings suffer from adsorption of particulate matter. In this study, the zwitterionic monomer 3-[N-(2-methacryloyloxyethyl)-N,N-dimethylammonio] propanesulfonate (SPE) was copolymerized with increasing amounts of the photo-crosslinker benzophenon-4-yloxyethyl methacrylate (BPEMA) to systematically alter the density of crosslinks between the polymer chains. The effect of increasing crosslink density on the antifouling (AF) performance of the coatings was investigated in laboratory assays and fields tests. In both cases, the AF performance was improved by increasing the crosslinker content. The coatings reduced protein, diatom, and barnacle accumulation, and showed better resistance to biomass accumulation. The findings underline that the marine AF performance of hydrogel coatings does not only depend on the specific chemical structure of the polymers, but also on their physico-chemical properties such as rigidity and swelling.

中文翻译：

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两性离子水凝胶涂料中交联密度对其防污性能和吸淤敏感性的影响

摘要 水凝胶涂层有效地减少了实验室分析中蛋白质和生物体的附着，特别是当由两性离子单体制成时。在多物种和非生命材料的现场实验中，这种涂层会受到颗粒物质的吸附。在这项研究中，两性离子单体 3-[N-(2-甲基丙烯酰氧基乙基)-N,N-二甲基氨基] 丙磺酸酯 (SPE) 与越来越多的光交联剂二苯甲酮-4-基氧基乙基甲基丙烯酸酯 (BPEMA) 共聚，以系统地改变聚合物链之间的交联密度。在实验室分析和现场测试中研究了增加交联密度对涂层防污 (AF) 性能的影响。在这两种情况下，AF 性能都通过增加交联剂含量而得到改善。涂层减少了蛋白质，硅藻和藤壶积累，对生物量积累表现出更好的抵抗力。研究结果强调，水凝胶涂层的海洋 AF 性能不仅取决于聚合物的特定化学结构，还取决于它们的物理化学性质，如刚性和溶胀性。