Professional Diploma in Bioinspired Antifouling Coatings

This professional diploma prepares you to protect ships and marine structures with cleaner, more sustainable surfaces. You will learn how conditioning films, biofilms, microfouling and macrofouling develop and how they affect drag, fuel consumption, emissions and biosecurity, how sharks, cetaceans, molluscs, algae, sponges and corals keep their surfaces clean, how antifouling technology evolved from copper paints and TBT to self-polishing and foul-release systems, and how low-energy surfaces, hydrogels, amphiphilic coatings and shark-skin microtextures are formulated, applied, regulated and tested in the laboratory and at sea.

What sets this professional diploma apart: a highly topical subject, since biofouling affects fuel consumption and biosecurity; a bioinspired approach that applies the defense strategies of marine organisms to surfaces; a regulatory view of the international framework for antifouling systems and biofouling management; practical application to ships, aquaculture, marine energy and sensors; an in-depth structure of eight modules covering biology, technology, application and testing; and a practical case in which you select an antifouling system for a real asset.