A bioinspired platform technology for next-generation functional paints and coatings

The need for more sustainable paints and coatings, which do not release harmful chemicals into the environment when drying, has driven major recent advances in waterborne products. However, a new manufacturing approach is now crucial to produce the next generation of waterborne paints and coatings to help tackle pressing economic and societal challenges, such as healthcare associated infections and the need to increase our production of renewable energies.

The accumulation of pathogenic bacteria on surfaces is one of the leading causes of healthcare associated infections, which killed over 5,500 NHS patients in 2017 and cost the NHS more than £2.3 billion per year. New and more effective antibacterial coatings are therefore urgently needed to reduce bacterial accumulation on clinical surfaces and minimize the occurrence of healthcare-associated infections.

My platform technology will further be transformative for the renewable energy sector. Although we can fabricate devices which convert over 45% of sunlight into electricity, most solar panels are located in arid or semi-arid regions, where their efficiency can be reduced by up to 30% because of dust and pollen accumulated on the panels. Currently, the anti-soiling coatings that keep solar panels clean are based on fluorinated components that have a have a long-lasting persistence in the environment and high tendency to accumulate in animals and humans. My proposed approach to fabricate anti-soiling coatings will reduce our dependency on fluorinated materials, increasing sustainability and reducing costs.

This Fellowship aims to overcome these challenges by developing a bioinspired platform technology that will act as a springboard for the next generation of sustainable functional paints and coatings. As the base of the technology, structures found in the skin of insects that survive floods in the rainforest will be mimicked using a self-assembly process where the different building blocks order themselves during drying. These structures will provide self-cleaning properties to the coatings that are not based on the composition or chemistry of their ingredients (avoiding the need for fluorinated components) but on the surface geometry. This platform technology will then be adapted initially to add coating properties that will target the challenges of healthcare associated infections and solar panel efficiency reductions.

To tackle healthcare associated infections, nanomaterials that kill bacteria, in the form of copper or zinc oxide nanoparticles, will be added to the coating formulation. The distribution of these nanomaterials will be optimized to locate them at the top surface of the coating, where they will be most effective as they will be in contact with adhering bacteria. These coatings will be tested in a real hospital environment, to quantify the reduction in bacterial growth when compared with a surface that has not been coated.

To increase the efficiency of solar panels, nanomaterials that increase the resistance to wear and abrasion in arid climates will be added to the coating formulation. The composition of the coatings will be tuned to control their optical properties and minimize the adverse effects that sunlight reflection has on the efficiency of solar panels. The coatings will be tested in a real solar platform located in a desert, comparing the efficiency of a coated panel versus an uncoated one.

My Fellowship will be transformative in its focus on reproducing the conditions that the paint industry uses when developing new products. In particular, the challenge of obtaining the same structures in a high viscosity/thickness paint, which is required to prevent paint sagging/dripping after application, will be addressed. This will be done in collaboration with three industrial paint partners, as well as preparing pilot scale paint formulations, to ensure a route towards innovation and product development.

The Fellowship aims to set up a bioinspired platform technology that will act as a springboard for the next generation of sustainable functional paint and coatings, with antibacterial and anti-soiling properties. The strong focus on reproducing industrially relevant formulations and real application conditions will ensure a route towards product development, leading to economic and societal impacts which will strongly benefit UK plc, the NHS, policy makers, and the wider public.

Commercialisation of the proposed new technology, which will be developed in partnership with two UK-based companies and further key potential partners through the Paint Research Association, is expected to start by the end of Year 7. The development of products based on this technology will significantly increase the economic competitiveness of the UK, giving it enough advantage over its competitors to become a global leader in functional coatings and climb from its current third position as European paint producer (after France and Germany) to the top one.

In 2017 healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) killed over 5,500 NHS patients and were set to cost the NHS £2.3 billion by 2018. Recent studies show that making 10% of the surfaces in Intensive Care Units antibacterial could reduce the number of healthcare-associated infections by up to 58%. Implementing the proposed antibacterial coatings could save more than 3000 lives and £1.3 billion per year for the NHS, strongly increasing the effectiveness of this public service.

The implementation of the proposed coatings will enable the UK government to deliver existing policies in several areas and re-set targets in future legislation. The waterborne paints will further help reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC) released into the atmosphere, helping to comply with current VOC content regulations and paving the way for more strict environmental policies. Their self-cleaning properties will reduce their cleaning frequency, saving energy and contributing to meet the target set in the Climate Change Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% of 1990 levels by 2050. Novel and more effective antibacterial coatings, which can reduce the amount of HCAIs, will support the Government's AntiMicrobial Resistance Vision and help to deliver its Action Plan. The anti-soiling coatings will increase the efficiency of solar panels by up to 30%, resulting in an extra 150 GW of solar energy produced and helping to meet the target set in the UK PV Solar strategy to produce 15% of total energy production from renewable sources by 2020.

The wider public will benefit from the transformative changes that the proposed technology could have on UK society: (i) An increase in the nation's health, through a reduction in the amount of deaths and infections originated by pathogenic healthcare bacteria and a mitigation of the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance; (ii) A less harmful atmosphere, with reduced greenhouse and volatile organic compounds emissions; and (iii) A more sustainable and long-lasting society, producing larger amounts of renewable energy.