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Abstract
The antifouling (AF) properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod coated glass substrata were investigated in an out-door mesocosm experiment under natural sunlight (14:10 light: dark photoperiod) over a period of five days. The total bacterial density (a six-fold reduction) and viability (a three-fold reduction) was significantly reduced by nanocoatings in the presence of sunlight. In the absence of sunlight, coated and control substrata were colonized equally by bacteria. MiSeq Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed distinct bacterial communities on the nanocoated and control substrata in the presence and absence of light. Diatom communities also varied on nanocoated substrata in the presence and the absence of light. The observed AF activity of the ZnO nanocoatings is attributed to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through photocatalysis in the presence of sunlight. These nanocoatings are a significant step towards the production of an environmentally friendly AF coating that utilizes a sustainable supply of sunlight.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr Mario De Stefano from the Second University of Naples, Italy for diatom identification and Ms Thirumahal Muthukrishnan for her assistance with microbial diversity analysis. The authors would also like to thank Ms Muneera al-Shidhani (CAARU) for her assistance with the flow cytometry data analysis and the college of Science, SQU for providing access to the XPS system and CAARU for the usage of SEM and FC.