Solar-assisted icephobicity down to −60°C with superhydrophobic selective surfaces

Abstract

Engineering icephobic surfaces has been a long-standing effort to address the challenges of ice prevention and removal in our daily life and industrial applications. Superhydrophobic surfaces and photothermal effect have shown their distinct merits in anti-icing and deicing. It is highly desirable to exploit their mutual benefits to realize passive, durable, and sustainable icephobicity even at extremely low temperatures. We report on a superhydrophobic selective surface constructed with a hierarchical architecture to enable stable superhydrophobicity and high-efficiency solar-thermal conversion. The surface spectral selectivity is deliberately designed to maximize solar harvesting while minimizing the thermal re-radiation loss. The boosted solar-thermal conversion empowers remarkable anti-icing of a sessile droplet at a record-low temperature of −60°C under 1-sun illumination. The synergy of solar-thermal conversion and superhydrophobicity endows the surface with superior and durable icephobicity. Moreover, the presented icephobic surface shows great potential and broad impacts, owing to its all-solution-based scalable fabrication method.