자연모사 올레오젤 표면을 이용한 지속가능한 윤활 기술에 대한 실험적 연구

Abstract

Liquid-repellent surfaces have broad technological implications in various areas ranging from liquid handling and transport to biomedical devices. However, approaches to repellent liquid, which typically rely on trapping liquid-repellent lubricant into the void spaces of the material surface, do not stably trap the lubricant and thereof it is difficult to sustain its liquid repellency under shear flow conditions. In addition, conventional liquid-repellent surfaces lack of anti-biofouling property, which restricts sustainable lubrication in marine environments. In this study, we propose a fatty acid amide (FAA)-based oleogel for sustainable lubrication in marine environments. The FAA-incorporating oleogel exhibited a high liquid repellency and slippery property. Oil molecules were dispersed inside network of the crosslinked polymer chains, which make them difficult to be depleted from the gel network under shear flow. In addition, the FAA-incorporating oleogel had anti-biofouling property with the aid of coupled effects of the FAA material itself and oil-absorbing gel network. The olegoel maintained its lubrication without biofouling for 2 months in marine field test. The proposed slippery FAA-incorporating oleogel is envisioned to be utilized as a new strategy to develop efficient and sustainable liquid-repellent surfaces for practical marine applications.