Supramolecular materials with catalytic function

Photocatalytic redox of copper ions in seawater is thought to be a possible mechanism for protecting sea emerged surfaces, e.g ship hulls, against biological fouling. By designing a coating with catalytic sites for production of Cu+ and Cu2+ ions the surface the goal is a coating material unattractive enough for the most problematic fouling biological marine species, i.e. barnacles, blue mussels etc. With this approach future antifouling coatings will not contain biocides at all - the biocides are inherently natural abundant copper in the sea. If successful, this antifouling mechanism also solves the problem of copper enrichment in harbors (due to large amounts of copper in today's coatings). If successful, our new coating will remediate this copper into the oceans and the mechanisms is simply that ships move from harbors to oceans