Nano-CeO<sub>2</sub>-Loaded Polyzwitterionic Double-Network High-Strength Hydrogel for Highly Enhanced Synergistic Marine Antifouling
Yangkai Xiong, Zhiqiang Fang, Daxiong Hu, Hao Jiang, Lei Huang, Qitong Mao, Guoqing Wang, Jipeng Li, Zhenzhong Liu, Chunxin Ma
Abstract
Although many antibiofouling materials have been developed based on either bacterial-killing or antiadhesion effects, the integration of both the effects in one material remains challenging for achieving highly enhanced synergistic antibiofouling. In this study, we have explored a nano-CeO 2 -loaded double-network hydrogel by introducing CeO 2 nanorods into a polyzwitterionic hydrogel via a simple one-pot method for achieving highly efficient antifouling. First, the CeO 2 nanorods dispersed in the hydrogel, as an outstanding nanozyme, have highly efficient bacterial-killing performance. Second, the superhydrophilic polyzwitterionic hydrogel provides a dense hydrated layer on the surface and subsequently excellent broad-spectrum antiadhesion behavior. Most importantly, the bacterial killing and antiadhesion of this hydrogel can work synergistically to largely improve the marine-antifouling performance. Moreover, the double-network structure of this hydrogel, including the covalently cross-linked polyzwitterion hard network and the physically cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) soft network, can provide greatly improved mechanical properties (2.44 MPa of tensile strength reaches and 21.87 MPa of compressive strength). As a result, among the existing marine-antifouling hydrogels, the CeO 2 -loaded polyzwitterionic double-network hydrogel can achieve outstanding antifouling performance, which can sustain for over 6 months in a real marine environment. This work provides a promising marine-antifouling hydrogel, which will also inspire antifouling research of a new strategy and materials.