Protection par voie électrochimique de hublots immergés en milieu marin vis-à-vis des biosalissures

Biofouling reduction is a major problem for underwater instrumentation, involving optical measurements or viewing. This paper presents an effective window protection technique based on seawater electrolysis for producing active chlorine species. This is achieved by depositing a transparent conductive tin dioxide coating by spray pyrolysis. A number of laboratory and in situ experiments were performed in order to assess the effectiveness of this window protection technique. It was found that Sb doping was more efficient with respect to electrical energy management and long term SnO2 coating stability than the fluorine doping. In the present state of the art, biofouling prevention was proved to be effective over 5 months at least