Shake it off

Anti fouling materials being developed in Christopher Cooper’s lab protect against slimy incursions in wet environments

Leah Shaffer 08.31.2026

With a grant from the Department of Defense, McKelvey engineer Christopher Cooper will develop materials to deter organisms from fouling surfaces in aquatic environments, work that could impact fuel efficiency in ships but also could improve the function of desalinization plants and medical devices in the human body.

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Imagine swimming in open water and the feel of slime brush against your leg: most people might shake it off without a second glance, but what if the surface of a boat could do the same trick?

Researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis are about to find out thanks to a $750,000 grant from the Department of Defense to develop materials that incorporate soft robotics and nontoxic polymers to fight biofouling, the buildup of aquatic organisms in wet environments. Biofilm and barnacles are not just a messy inconvenience; it affects the function of anything in water. In the Navy’s case, fouled-up watercraft reduces fuel efficiency and vastly increases upkeep costs for the fleet.

There has been recent concern that the 1,500 ships parked in the Gulf of Oman could cause a “super spreader” event when shipping lines open again. As vessels remain anchored in those waters, organisms native to the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz set up shop on the hull. Then, when shipping resumes, the concern is those vessels could accidentally spread invasive species all over the world, potentially causing major disruption to ecosystems and industries. Polymer layers that could shake off such stowaways increasingly a necessity with globalized trade. But benefits potentially go beyond water vessels and could vastly improve function of medical implants and even desalination processes.

Christopher Cooper, assistant professor in the departments of environmental, energy & chemical engineering and the mechanical engineering & materials science in McKelvey Engineering, is leading the work in coordination with researchers at North Dakota State University, where they will be testing samples in water. The idea is to create a system that has layers that can adjust and respond to the constantly shifting aquatic environment.

Normal antifouling protections have a static chemical coating that can repel a particular subset of marine organisms, but other creatures defy those protections, and once they attach, it enables even more organisms to set up shop.

“The idea is to make a soft robotic surface that can change its shape,” Cooper said.

The robotic part is a polymer that acts a soft actuator, in that, when it’s heated up, it will contract, and when it cools down, it expands. By controlling the amplitude and wavelength of the deformation of that surface, they can use those deformations to dislodge biofoulants. Atop the polymer that will bend and bump off biofilms, they’ll add more layers of chemical deterrent, turning it all into a “self-healing multiphase coating.”

If all goes well, this could make a big impact in many other areas, especially in treatment of salt water, these polymer coatings could vastly improve the membranes that are used in desalinization, potentially allowing salt water to be used for many unavailable applications including to cool data centers. And, in medical devices these materials could potentially imitate the sophisticated biomechanics of human arteries which are constantly wrinkling, unwrinkling to affect platelet adhesion.

“This is a platform that can sense something trying to attach and develop a strategy to dislodge it,” Cooper said.

The McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis promotes independent inquiry and education with an emphasis on scientific excellence, innovation and collaboration without boundaries. McKelvey Engineering has top-ranked research and graduate programs across departments, particularly in biomedical engineering, environmental engineering and computing, and has one of the most selective undergraduate programs in the country. With 165 full-time faculty, 1,524 undergraduate students, 1,554 graduate students and 22,000 living alumni, we are working to solve some of society’s greatest challenges; to prepare students to become leaders and innovate throughout their careers; and to be a catalyst of economic development for the St. Louis region and beyond.