Long-Term Stability of PEG-Based Antifouling Surfaces in a Marine Environment

The work presented here concerns the use of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to reduce marine biofouling on ship hulls. The long-term stability of PEG towards degradation in a marine environment is reviewed, and the results of experiments designed to test the degradation of polyethylene glycol moieties are disclosed. The results show how the degradation of different polyethers can be followed, both in laboratory accelerated conditions and real life exposure by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Preliminary results indicate the influence of the chemical structure and the end-group on the degradation of different PEG-containing compounds in accelerated conditions, while showing very little degradation in real exposure tests in seawater after 3 months. Further experiments will be discussed involving long-term stability and degradation pathways involved in the degradation of PEG.