The issue of anti-icing and deicing in the low-temperature
and
high-humidity environment of polar regions has long troubled researchers.
The problem cannot be solved perfectly by superhydrophobic coatings
alone, and multifunctional composite coatings as well have become
a research hotspot. First, hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets were
functionalized with polypyrrole (PPy), and then hydrophobic modification
was completed by grafting perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (FAS) to obtain
fluorine-modified polypyrrole-functionalized boron nitride (F-BN@PPy).
Finally, a photothermal superhydrophobic coating was successfully
prepared by using silicone resin as a binder. The coating exhibited
excellent photothermal properties, reaching 80 °C in just 3 min
under 1 sun irradiation at 25 °C. This can be attributed to the
high photothermal conversion efficiency of PPy and the nanostructure
of the coating surface, which enhances sunlight utilization. The coating
also demonstrated superior hydrophobic properties, reflected by a
contact angle of 162° and a sliding angle of 1°, due to
the hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate forming a rough micronanosilica
shell and the grafting of the low surface energy FAS. In addition,
the performance of the coating maintained good hydrophobic properties
by sandpaper abrasion, falling sand impact, bending experiments, or
immersion in strong acids and bases for 7 days. This shows that the
coating has good mechanical properties and chemical durability. Compared
to tinplate, the coating successfully delayed the complete freezing
of droplets on its surface at −20 °C by 10 min. On a cooling
platform at −40 °C, the F-BN@PPy coating with 1 sun light
reached 5.7 °C in only 90 s. The F-BN@PPy photothermal superhydrophobic
coating provides an excellent anti-icing/deicing solution for extreme
environments.