Inhibition of Defect-Induced Ice Nucleation, Propagation, and Adhesion by Bioinspired Self-Healing Anti-Icing Coatings

Abstract

Anti-icing coatings on outdoor infrastructures inevitably suffer from mechanical injuries in numerous icing scenarios such as hailstorms, sandstorms, impacts of foreign objects, and icing–deicing cycles. Herein, the mechanisms of surface-defect-induced icing are clarified. At the defects, water molecules exhibit stronger adsorption and the heat transfer rate increases, accelerating the condensation of water vapor as well as ice nucleation and propagation. Moreover, the ice–defect interlocking structure increases the ice adhesion strength. Thus, a self-healing (at −20 °C) antifreeze-protein (AFP)-inspired anti-icing coating is developed. The coating is based on a design that mimics the ice-binding and non-ice-binding sites in AFPs. It enables the coating to markedly inhibit ice nucleation (nucleation temperature < −29.4 °C), prevent ice propagation (propagation rate < 0.00048 cm 2 /s), and reduce ice adhesion on the surface (adhesion strength < 38.9 kPa). More importantly, the coating can also autonomously self-heal at −20 °C, as a result of multiple dynamic bonds in its structure, to inhibit defect-induced icing processes. The healed coating sustains high anti-icing and deicing performance even under various extreme conditions. This work reveals the in-depth mechanism of defect-induced ice formation as well as adhesion, and proposes a self-healing anti-icing coating for outdoor infrastructures.

A crosslinked silicone coating adjusted by an additive with promising antifouling and ice nucleation inhibition performance

“…Comparative analysis indicated that the B-PDMS coating exhibited a significantly lower ice adhesion strength than most reported values in the literature, underscoring its ability to delay the icing process. 55–58…”

Development and Application of Intelligent Coating Technology: A Review

“…Compared with the currently reported anti-icing coatings internationally, this coating can not only self-heal at low temperatures but also simultaneously inhibit ice nucleation, transfer, and adhesion. It has environmental adaptability and large-scale coating potential, providing new ideas for the development of anti-icing coatings applied in outdoor environments that are prone to damage [125].…”

Planting Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes onto Epoxidized Soybean Oil-Based Vitrimer to Construct a Biobased Photothermal Superhydrophobic Coating with Self-Healing and Closed-Loop Recyclability for Anti/Deicing

“…31,33 In addition, SHSs used outdoors are prone to mechanical damage from the outside, causing damage to their surface structure and increasing the mechanical interlocking between ice and damaged surfaces. 34 Lately, the self-healing function has been added to SHSs to counteract the reduction in superhydrophobicity brought on by significant mechanical damage. 35,36 This innovation was motivated by the biological regeneration features found in living organisms.…”