Ice accumulation causes great risks to aircraft, electric power lines, and wind-turbine blades. For the ice accumulation on structural surfaces, ice adhesion force is a crucial factor, which generally has two main sources, for exampple, electrostatic force and mechanical interlocking. Herein, we present that surface acoustic waves (SAWs) can be applied to minimize ice adhesion by simultaneously reducing electrostatic force and mechanical interlocking, and generating interface heating effect. A theoretical model of ice adhesion considering the effect of SAWs is first established. Experimental studies proved that the combination of nanoscale vibration and interface heating effects lead to the reduction of ice adhesion on the substrate. With the increase of SAW power, the electrostatic force decreases due to the increase of dipole spacings, which is mainly attributed to the SAW induced nanoscale surface vibration. The interface heating effect leads to the transition of the locally interfacial contact phase from solid–solid to solid–liquid, hence reducing the mechanical interlocking of ice. This study presents a strategy of using SAWs device for ice adhesion reduction, and results show a considerable potential for application in deicing.

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Moisture condensation, fogging, and frost or ice formation on structural surfaces cause severe hazards in many industrial components such as aircraft wings, electric power lines, and wind-turbine blades. Surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) technology, which is based on generating and monitoring acoustic waves propagating along structural surfaces, is one of the most promising techniques for monitoring, predicting, and also eliminating these hazards occurring on these surfaces in a cold environment. Monitoring condensation and frost/ice formation using SAW devices is challenging in practical scenarios including sleet, snow, cold rain, strong wind, and low pressure, and such a detection in various ambient conditions can be complex and requires consideration of various key influencing factors. Herein, the influences of various individual factors such as temperature, humidity, and water vapor pressure, as well as combined or multienvironmental dynamic factors, are investigated, all of which lead to either adsorption of water molecules, condensation, and/or frost/ice in a cold environment on the SAW devices. The influences of these parameters on the frequency shifts of the resonant SAW devices are systematically analyzed. Complemented with experimental studies and data from the literature, relationships among the frequency shifts and changes of temperature and other key factors influencing the dynamic phase transitions of water vapor on SAW devices are investigated to provide important guidance for icing detection and monitoring.

The combination of microstructures and nanostructures has broad application prospects. However, most existing methods are oriented to fabricating microstructures and nanostructures separately, and the fabrication of nanostructures on a microstructured surface at the wafer level is rarely studied. In this work, a new method of fabricating large-area high aspect ratio nano-cylinders on micro-pillars based on a colloidal crystal mask is proposed. An experimental device for stripping and draining was designed to create a polystyrene colloidal crystal mask. Together with reactive-ion etching and metal-assisted chemical etching, high aspect ratio nano-cylinders on micro-pillars with controllable size were obtained on a 4-inch silicon wafer. Wetting tests were performed on four groups of fabricated structures of different sizes, and the results showed that all samples were superhydrophobic. Thus, a method for fabricating uniform, size-controllable, large-area high aspect ratio nano-cylinders on micro-pillars with great potential as a superhydrophobic engineering material is proposed.