Prevention of Biofouling: Electrochemical and Anti-Adhesion Technologies to Protect Ship Hulls and Membrane Modules from Biofouling

Biofouling is one of the key problems that many technical systems face. It weighs down ships, clogs filtration modules for water treatment and causes hygiene problems in clinical environments. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, material science solutions have been developed to prevent the adhesion of foulants. An electrically conductive coating system applied to ships keeps the surfaces free of fouling effectively for an extended time. Thin hydrophilic layers on the components of filtration modules reduce the adsorption of microorganisms and can thus contribute to increasing efficiency and energy saving.