A research team at National Chung Hsing University has developed a substance inspired by frog skin to prevent biofouling on ships and offshore equipment.
By observing how frog skin prevented algae from growing, the team developed a material to stop microbes, barnacles and mussels from growing on ships, which not only make the vessels appear dirty, but can cause structural damage, said materials science and engineering associate professor Hsueh Han-yu (薛涵宇), who led the team.
The research is to be published next month in an issue of Advanced Functional Materials, with doctoral student Chen Ting-lun (陳亭綸) as the paper’s first author.
Photo: Su Meng-chuan, Taipei Times
If not regularly scraped off, barnacles and mussels can slow ships and increase fuel consumption, Hsueh said, adding that ships can carry barnacles, mussels and algae native to one region to other parts of the world, which could destabilize local ecosystems.
Some biofouling substances can damage precision electronic equipment if they seep inside a ship, he said.
The team came up with the biofilm after observing frogs endemic to Taiwan, he said.
Observing frog skin magnified 30,000 times, the team saw that there were dots and grooves on the skin that helped store a lubricant, which frogs secrete on their skin, he said.
The team determined that frogs were unaffected by algae or other biofouling substances in the water because of these microscopic orifices that store a lubricant that kept the substances off their skin, Hsueh said.
Using polymeric synthesis technology, the team created a film with microscopic wrinkles and injected silicone into tiny artificially created holes simulating the frogs’ skin, he said.
When tested with different kinds of algae in fresh water and seawater, the team found that the film offered effective, long-term prevention of biofouling substances adhering to it, Hsueh said.
With Taiwan’s humid, subtropical environment, freshwater lakes are prone to algae growth, he said.
The team would next seek to lower the cost of manufacturing the film to allow for mass production, he added.
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