Recent Progress in Marine Antifouling Technology Based on Graphene and Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite Materials

Sea vessels and artificial sea-based structures are severely affected by biofouling, i.e., the formation of deposits of living and dead marine organisms that belong to different species and range in size from unicellular bacteria to multicellular seaweed and mussels. This is a significant engineering problem since they essentially alter the geometry of the hull, increasing friction and reducing the speed of vessels, thus increasing the cost and environmental footprint of transportation. Given the scale of global transportation reaches several billion tons per year, the socioeconomic consequences of the reduction in transit speed and increased consumption of fuel continue to drive researchers and engineers to develop strategies to combat the processes of marine biofouling. Many types of antifouling paints, coatings, and materials that have been designed and tested, and in some instances used commercially, suffer from shortcomings ranging from environmental toxicity to limited efficiency and durability. In this review article, a brief overview of the traditional antifouling materials is presented and recent achievements in the design of advanced antifouling materials based on such nanomaterials as graphene, nanotubes, nanoparticles, and more complex nanostructures are discussed. These materials exhibit excellent antifouling properties and candrive a breakthrough in how marine biofouling is tackled.