Icing and freezing
phenomena in cold weather cause serious damage
and economic losses. Thus, the development of a new effective icephobic
surface with low ice adhesion strength (τ
ice
) that
can easily remove ice by wind or gravity force is essentially required.
In this study, we propose a silicone oil-infused oleamide–polydimethylsiloxane
(SiOP) by a facile fabrication method to achieve the effective icephobic
performance with enhanced lubrication lifetime. The proposed SiOP
is composed of a composite containing oleamide and polydimethylsiloxane
(PDMS) and silicone oil impregnated into the polymeric networks of
the composite. Oleamide has been used as a slip agent in industries
to reduce the skin friction of polymer films. The weight of the oil
impregnated in SiOP is approximately three times higher than that
of silicone oil-infused PDMS (SiPDMS). Different from the SiPDMS surface
on which oil dries easily, a slippery oil layer is stably formed on
the SiOP surface. The fabricated SiOP surfaces have very low τ
ice
values of approximately 1 kPa, which is much smaller than
that of the SiPDMS surface. The SiOP with an oleamide content of 5
wt % exhibits the smallest τ
ice
value of 0.88 kPa.
The fabricated SiOP surfaces maintain their superior icephobicity
for more than 30 icing/deicing cycles, demonstrating their enhanced
lubrication lifetime. In addition, the ice freezing time of a water
droplet of 7 μL in volume is significantly delayed on the SiOP
surface compared with that on the SiPDMS surface. The present results
demonstrate that the proposed SiOP surface can help provide superior
icephobic performance with the aid of the incorporation of oleamide
into the conventional SiPDMS. The developed icephobic SiOP can be
utilized to satisfactorily resolve the lubricant drought problem of
conventional icephobic surfaces by empolying oleamide as a complementary
slip agent.
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