Scalable and durable polymeric icephobic and hydrate-phobic coatings

Abstract

Ice formation and accumulation on surfaces can result in severe problems for solar photovoltaic installations, offshore oil platforms, wind turbines and aircrafts. In addition, blockage of pipelines by formation and accumulation of clathrate hydrates of natural gases has safety and economical concerns in oil and gas operations, particularly at high pressures and low temperatures such as those found in subsea or arctic environments. Practical adoption of icephobic/hydrate-phobic surfaces requires mechanical robustness and stability under harsh environments. Here, we develop durable and mechanically robust bilayer poly-divinylbenzene (pDVB)/poly-perfluorodecylacrylate (pPFDA) coatings using initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) to reduce the adhesion strength of ice/hydrates to underlying substrates (silicon and steel). Utilizing a highly-cross-linked polymer (pDVB) underneath a very thin veneer of fluorine-rich polymer (pPFDA) we have designed inherently rough bilayer polymer films that can be deposited on rough steel substrates resulting in surfaces which exhibit a receding water contact angle (WCA) higher than 150° and WCA hysteresis as low as 4°. Optical profilometer measurements were performed on the films and root mean square (RMS) roughness values of Rq = 178.0 ± 17.5 nm and Rq = 312.7 ± 23.5 nm were obtained on silicon and steel substrates, respectively. When steel surfaces are coated with these smooth hard iCVD bilayer polymer films, the strength of ice adhesion is reduced from 1010 ± 95 kPa to 180 ± 85 kPa. The adhesion strength of the cyclopentane (CyC5) hydrate is also reduced from 220 ± 45 kPa on rough steel substrates to 34 ± 12 kPa on the polymer-coated steel substrates. The durability of these bilayer polymer coated icephobic and hydrate-phobic substrates is confirmed by sand erosion tests and examination of multiple ice/hydrate adhesion/de-adhesion cycles.

A Novel Simple Anti-Ice Aluminum Coating: Synthesis and In-Lab Comparison with a Superhydrophobic Hierarchical Surface

“…As described in several studies [12,39,49,50], the ice-phobic behavior of the SHP surface can be attributed to the high water repellency and to the existence of an "air-cushion" on the surface of the sample that maintain it partially unwetted during the ice formation or that considerably reduce the contact area of ice on the surface. The ice-phobic results obtained for SHP are comparable or better than those of superhydrophobic materials reported in the literature [51][52][53].…”

Surface Modification of Polymers: Methods and Applications

“…Surface‐treated polymers have found widespread use in microfluidics, textiles, biomedical applications, electronics, water‐treatment, and energy industries . These surface treatments can be achieved via wide range of processes, the most common routes are to modulate the surface energy of the material to increase or decrease its adhesive, wetting, absorbing, or releasing properties where the polymer is subjected to chemical, ionic, or light‐based treatment processes which can recondition the surface energies by addition of functional groups to the material . Another alternative is to tailor the surface roughness of the polymer by mechanical or chemical abrasion processes where the top layer of the polymers is modified by treatment with wet or dry abrasives.…”

Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Wet Snow Accumulation on Inclined Cylindrical Surfaces

“…Atmospheric icing is referred to various processes in which water droplets in atmosphere freeze and adhere to surfaces potentially posing severe risks to the security of man-made structures [1,2]. For example, ice and wet snow accumulation on structures such as power transmission lines, bridge cables, wind turbine blades, and aircraft wings can reduce efficiency, cause detrimental environmental consequences, enhance safety hazards, and increase operational costs [3][4][5][6][7]. e cost of damages of wet snow accretion could be in the order of 100 million US dollars per storm [8].…”

“…In addition, due to rise in temperature and external forces such as wind and gravity the blocks of accumulated wet snow may fall from structures such as bridge cables and can cause detrimental safety and operational concerns. Recently, development of coatings to prevent ice/snow accumulation and, in case of any formation, reduce their adhesion strength to surfaces has received considerable attention [3,4,10,15]. However, these coatings are far away from being applied to industrial surfaces due to their durability, scalability, and mechanical-robustness issues [10].…”