The anticorrosive composite coatings based on waterborne silicate were prepared to replace existing solvent-based coatings suitable for ships. A series of composite coatings were prepared by adding zinc powder and micaceous iron oxide to the waterborne silicate resin. The adhesion, pencil hardness and impact resistance of the coatings were investigated and corrosion performance in seawater is characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results show that coatings have excellent adhesion and impact resistance and their pencil hardness can reach up to 4H. During the immersion of composite coatings in seawater for 8 h, only one time constant appears in the Bode plot, coating capacitance (Q_c) gradually increases but dispersion coefficient (n) and coating resistance (R_c) gradually decrease. The breakpoint frequency formula was deduced, considering the dispersion effect. With the increase of micaceous iron oxide, the fluctuation of breakpoint frequency with immersion time is weakened. It can be used to evaluate the corrosion resistance of inorganic anticorrosive coatings in seawater. In addition, different penetration models of corrosive media were proposed for the coatings with low or high content of micaceous iron oxide.

Inspired by the antifouling properties of scaly fish, the conventional silicone coating with phenylmethylsilicone oil (PSO/PDMS) composite coating was fabricated and modified with single layer polystyrene (PS) microsphere (PSO/PDMS-PS) arrays. The fish scale like micro-nano structures were fabricated on the surface of bio-inspired coating, which can reduce the contact area with the secreted protein membrane of fouling organisms effectively and prevent further adhesion between fouling organisms and bio-inspired coating. Meanwhile, PSO exuded to the coating surface has the similar function with mucus secreted by fish epidermis, which make the coating surface slithery and will be polished with the fouling organisms in turbulent waters. Compared to PSO/PDMS coating without any structure and conventional silicone coating, PSO/PDMS-PS showed better antiadhesion activity against both marine bacteria and benthic diatom (Navicula sp.). Additionally, the existence of PS microspheres can reduce the release rate of PSO greatly, which will extend the service life of coating. Compared to PSO/PDMS coating, the sustained release efficiency of PSO/PDMS-PS coating can reach 23.2%. This facile method for fabricating the bio-inspired composite slow-release antifouling coating shows a widely fabricating path for the development of synergistic anti-fouling coating.