Coral-Inspired Zinc Acrylate Polymer Utilizing Coumarin as the Fluorescent Unit for Marine Antifouling

The need for low-cost and effective antifouling solutions drives innovation in the fields of chemistry, materials science, and biology. In this work, guided by the antifouling strategies used by fluorescent corals, a series of fluorescent zinc acrylate polymer coatings containing coumarin units (ZAR-coumarin) was successfully prepared. The ZAR-coumarin coatings demonstrated excellent antifouling properties due to the synergistic action of multiple antifouling mechanisms, including fluorescent antifouling, natural bactericidal activity, and self-polishing surface renewal (due to ester group (−COO-Zn–OOC−) cleavage). Compared with zinc acrylate coatings without coumarin units (ZAR), the introduction of coumarin units significantly improved the inhibition efficiency for both bacteria and algae. In marine environment tests, the ZAR-AMCO-1, ZAR-ADMCO-1, and ZAR-CAMCO-1 coatings containing optimized amounts of different types of coumarin units maintained good antifouling properties over a 160-day field test period. This research presents an innovative approach to creating marine antifouling coatings.