Fabrication of Frog‐Skin‐Inspired Slippery Antibiofouling Coatings Through Degradable Block Copolymer Wrinkling

AbstractMarine biofouling is a severe problem with a wide‐reaching impact on ship maintenance, the economy, and ecosystem safety, among others. Inspired by complex multifunctional frogskins, wrinkled slippery coatings are created that exhibit remarkable antifouling, anti‐icing, and self‐cleaning properties through a combination of degradable di‐block copolymer self‐assembly [i.e., polystyrene‐b‐polylactide (PS‐b‐PLA)] and hydrolysis‐driven dynamic release‐induced surface wrinkling. Microwrinkled patterns can generate curved surfaces that are resistant to biofouling. Gyroid‐forming PS‐b‐PLA can be used to produce nanoporous templates with cocontinuous nanochannels, which generate strong capillary forces for trapping and storing infiltrated lubricants. In this study, block‐copolymer‐derived hierarchically wrinkled slippery liquid‐infused nanoporous surfaces (i.e., micro wrinkles with nanochannels infused with slippery fluids) are successfully fabricated after silicone oil infiltration. The antibiofouling performance of these surfaces is examined against different foulers under various conditions. The produced coatings exhibited flexible, stable, transparent, and easily tunable antibiofouling characteristics. In particular, the formation of an eco‐friendly silicon‐based lubricant layer without the use of fluorinated compounds and costly material precursors is an advantage in industrial practice that can be adopted in various applications, such as fuel transport, self‐cleaning windows, anticorrosion protection, nontoxic coatings for medical devices, and optical instruments.