Moth-Eye Mimicking Solid Slippery Glass Surface with Icephobicity, Transparency, and Self-Healing

Abstract

Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPSs) have been actively studied to improve the limitations of superhydrophobic (SHP) surfaces, especially the defects of the nonwetting chemical coating layer and the weak mechanical robustness of surface micro/nanostructures. However, the SLIPSs also have several drawbacks including volatilization and leakage of lubricant caused by long-term usage. In this study, we suggest the use of icephobic, highly transparent, and self-healing solid slippery surface to overcome the limitations of both surfaces (SLIPS and SHP) by combining specific biomimetic morphology and intrinsic properties of paraffin wax. A moth-eye mimicking nanopillar structure was prepared instead of a porous structure and was coated with solid paraffin wax for water repellence. Moth-eye structures enable high surface transparency based on antireflective effect, and the paraffin layer can recover from damage due to sunlight exposure. Furthermore, the paraffin coating on the nanopillars provides an air trap, resulting in a low heat transfer rate, increasing freezing time and reducing adhesion strength between the ice droplet and the surface. The heat transfer model was also calculated to elucidate the effects of the nanopillar height and paraffin layer thickness. The antireflection and freezing time of the surfaces are enhanced with increase in nanopillar height. The paraffin layer slightly deteriorates the transmittance but enhances the icephobicity. The solar cell efficiency using a biomimetic solid slippery surface is higher than that of bare glass due to the antireflective effect. This integrated biomimetic solid slippery surface is multifunctional due to its self-cleaning, anti-icing, antireflection, and self-healing properties and may replace SLIPS and SHP surfaces.

Nanopatterned Polymer Molds Using Anodized Aluminum Templates for Anti-Reflective Coatings

“…Polymeric moth-eye nanostructures have been found to exhibit anti-reflective properties according to previous works [ 32 , 33 ]. In the present experiments, AAO molds were used as imprinting templates to produce polymeric moth-eye nanostructures.…”

“…These nanostructure layers can enable efficient practical applications due to their properties including hydrophobicity, flexibility, and transparency. To examine the anti-reflective properties, the absorption and scattering spectra of polymeric moth-eye-like nanostructure were computed Polymeric moth-eye nanostructures have been found to exhibit anti-reflective properties according to previous works [32,33]. In the present experiments, AAO molds were used as imprinting templates to produce polymeric moth-eye nanostructures.…”

Designing a Network of Crystalline Polymers for a Scalable, Nonfluorinated, Healable and Amphiphobic Solid Slippery Interface

“…But, the association of a fluorinated nano‐structure with the paraffin wax is required to slide both the beaded droplets of water and a non‐polar organic solvent, i.e. hexa‐decane [16] . Overall, the demonstrations of sliding of the beaded droplets of engine, motor, edible, and inherently complex crude oils on the earlier reported non‐fluorinated solid slippery interfaces are extremely rare [3, 4, 7, 8, 13, 15–17, 26–28] .…”

Endogenous Ionic‐Liquid‐Infused Coatings by Phase Separation for Anti‐Icing and Anti‐Bacterial Applications

“…Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPSs) have attracted enormous interest in anti-adhesion applications such as antiicing, [1][2][3][4] anti-fouling, [5][6][7][8] anti-scaling, [9,10] etc. since first reported by Aizenberg's group in 2011.…”