Robust Anti‐Icing Performance of a Flexible Superhydrophobic Surface

Abstract

A material with superhydrophobic and anti-ice/de-icing properties, which has a micro-/nanostructured surface, is produced by a straightforward method. This material comprises a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microstructure with ZnO nanohairs and shows excellent water and ice repellency even at low temperatures (-20 °C) and relatively high humidity (90%) for over three months. These results are expected to be helpful for designing smart, non-wetting materials that can be adapted to low-temperature environments for the development of anti-icing systems.

Micro‐/Nanostructured Interface for Liquid Manipulation and Its Applications

“…To be specific, when impacted by droplet, instead of being wetted, micro‐nanostructured surfaces with air entrapped in the surface textures can retract and rebound the droplets ( Figure a), leading to subtle transition between Cassie state and partial Wenzel state. Based on the surface structure of lotus leaf, Zheng et al presented a flexible superhydrophobic surface with a hierarchical structure, consisting of PDMS micropapillae and ZnO nanohairs (Figure b,c). In the droplet dynamic motion test, the flexible surface can timely rebound off the impacting droplet in both flat and curved state (Figure d,e).…”

Bioinspired Wettability-Controlled Surfaces with Gradient Micro- and Nanostructures

“…It has recently been revealed to have become a hot research area in the materials science world [1][2][3][4][5].…”

“…It has recently been revealed to have become a hot research area in the materials science world [1][2][3][4][5].The capture silk of the cribellate spider Uloborus walckenaerius collects water through a combination of multiple gradients in a periodic spindle-knot structure after rebuilding. Inspired by the roles of micro-and nanostructures (MNs) in the water collecting ability of spider silk[2], a series of bioinspired gradient fibers has been designed by integrating fabrication methods and technologies such as dip-coating, Rayleigh instability break-up droplets, phase separation, strategies of combining electrospinning and electrospraying, and web-assembly.…”

Bioinspired Mechanically Robust Metal‐Based Water Repellent Surface Enabled by Scalable Construction of a Flexible Coral‐Reef‐Like Architecture

“…Such behavior could be attributed to the combination of strong adhesion of the coating layer and gaps/space in between individual “coral‐reef” in the coating. The strong adhesion ensures the integrity of the coating and the gaps make the coating compliant . Even after different ways of knife‐scratching and powerful hammer hitting, excellent water repellency still remained as shown in Videos S5–S7 of the Supporting Information.…”