Natural Product Antifoulant Protection for Bio-Sensors and Solar Panels

Solar panels and bio-optical sensors play a significant role in a number of applications that are of importance to NOAA. Many of these instruments require a high transmission of radiation into the device for it to work properly. Typically, these devices have a coverglass affixed over the active part of the device to protect the sensor or panel from harsh conditions. A problem that presently exists with this technology is biological fouling of the coverglasses on these instruments. In an effort to mitigate this problem, Nanohmics, Inc. is developing a new class of instrument coverglass that incorporates natural product antifoulants (NPAs) into optical quality, hard polymers. NPAs are incorporated into thin polymer coverglass materials using standard processes and are being tested in a laboratory marine environment in order to determine their effectiveness. Subsequent phases of the project will include optimizing and scaling-up the production of the antifoulant-impregnated polymeric sheets.