NIR-light-induced plasmonic liquid metal/ionic liquid/MXene polyurethane films with excellent antifouling and self-healing capabilities

The potential of organic coatings in antifouling applications has been well-documented. Beyond their exceptional antifouling effects, these coatings should also possess good mechanical strength and self-healing capabilities. Herein, a novel vinyl-based ionic liquid [VEMIM⁺] [Cl^–] (IL) was in situ polymerized and then assembled onto the surface of liquid metal (GLM) nanodroplets to prepare GLM-IL. Subsequently, Ti₃C₂T_x (MXene) was modified with GLM-IL nanodroplets to obtain GLM-IL/MXene composite, which acts as an efficient photon captor and photothermal converters and can be further composited with PU film (GLM-IL/MXene/PU). Notably, the composite film significantly increases by ∼117°C after exposure to 200 mW/cm² light irradiation. This increase is attributed to the high photothermal conversion efficiency of MXene and the excellent plasma effect of GLM-IL. Compared with pure PU, the GLM-IL/MXene/PU film shows a 50% improvement in tensile strength and above 85.8% healing efficiency with a local temperature increase. Additionally, the as-prepared GLM-IL/MXene/PU film reveals satisfactory antifouling properties, achieving a 99.7% reduction in bacterial presence and an 80.3% reduction in microalgae. This work introduces a novel coating with antifouling and self-healing properties, offering a wide range of applications in the fields of marine antifouling and biomedicine.