Anti-icing superhydrophobic coatings.pdfVIP

/Langmuir ? 2009 American Chemical Society Anti-Icing Superhydrophobic Coatings Liangliang Cao,? Andrew K. Jones,? Vinod K. Sikka,? Jianzhong Wu,§ and Di Gao*,? ?Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, ?Ross Technology Corporation, Leola, Pennsylvania 17540, and §Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California 92521 Received August 4, 2009. Revised Manuscript Received September 26, 2009 We use nanoparticle-polymer composites to demonstrate the anti-icing capability of superhydrophobic surfaces and report direct experimental evidence that such surfaces are able to prevent ice formation upon impact of supercooled water both in laboratory conditions and in natural environments. We find that the anti-icing capability of these composites depends not only on their superhydrophobicity but also on the size of the particles exposed on the surface. The critical particle sizes that determine the superhydrophobicity and the anti-icing property are in two different length scales. The effect of particle size on ice formation is explained by using a classical heterogeneous nucleation theory. This result implies that the anti-icing property of a surface is not directly correlated with the superhydrophobicity, and thus, it is uncertain whether a superhydrophobic surface is anti-icing without detailed knowledge of the surface morphology. The result also opens up possibilities for rational design of anti-icing superhydrophobic surfaces by tuning surface textures in multiple length scales. Introduction icing caused by supercooled water, also known as “freezing rain”, Inspired by the self-cleaning properties of lotus leaves,1,2 “atmospheric icing”, or “impact ice”, is notorious for glazing researchers have recently made significant progress in fabrication roadways, breaking tree limbs and power lines, and stalling airfoil 1