Fluorinated-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (F-POSS) functionalized halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) as an antifouling additive for epoxy resin

UICICH JULIETA F.; MARYAM JOUYANDEH; DIANA FASCE; PABLO E. MONTEMARTINI; MARCELA ELISABETH PENOFF; HENRI VAHABI; MOHAMED REZA SAEB

Journal of Vinyl and Additive Technology

John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Año: 2023

1548-0585

Antifouling epoxy resin serves as a member of advanced nanocomposite coatings and engineered surfaces. Nevertheless, developing an antifouling epoxycomposites is a state-of-the-art technology. Herein, a complex nanostructure istailored to be served as an advanced additive giving the antifouling characteristics to the epoxy resin. F-POSS@HNT hybrid nanostructure, that is, halloysitenanotubes (HNTs) decorated with fluorinated polyhedral oligomericsil sesquioxane (F-POSS), was synthesized and characterized. Chemical structurechanges, thermal stability and morphology of hydroxylated HNTs (hHNTs)intermediate and F-POSS@HNT ultimate nanostructures were analyzed by FTIRspectroscopy, TGA and TEM, respectively. The F-POSS@HNTs catalyzed theepoxy-amine crosslinking reaction, taking ?Good? or ?Excellent? crosslinking tagsan quantified by the ?Cure Index.? The apparent activation energy values werecalculated for the epoxy (reference), epoxy/hHNTs, and epoxy/F-POSS@HNTssystems (26, 51, and 47 kJ mol1, respectively). Contact angle measurements wereperformed via dynamic tests demonstrating improved hydro- and oleophobicity ofthe thermoset composites. The advancing contact angle with diiodomethaneincreased 36% and 30% for nanocomposites containing 5 and 10 wt.% of the developed hybrid nanostructure, respectively, compared with the neat epoxy. Likewise,54% and 67% reduction in paraffin fouling in the same order confirmed their antifouling ability. Regarding self-cleaning characteristics, 24% and 33% surface recovery were observed, respectively