Advanced Anti‐Icing Strategies and Technologies by Macrostructured Photothermal Storage Superhydrophobic Surfaces

Abstract

Water is the source of life and civilization, but water icing causes catastrophic damage to human life and diverse industrial processes. Currently, superhydrophobic surfaces (inspired by the lotus effect) aided anti‐icing attracts intensive attention due to their energy‐free property. Here, recent advances in anti‐icing by design and functionalization of superhydrophobic surfaces are reviewed. The mechanisms and advantages of conventional, macrostructured, and photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces are introduced in turn. Conventional superhydrophobic surfaces, as well as macrostructured ones, easily lose the icephobic property under extreme conditions, while photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces strongly rely on solar illumination. To address the above issues, a potentially smart strategy is found by developing macrostructured photothermal storage superhydrophobic (MPSS) surfaces, which integrate the functions of macrostructured superhydrophobic materials, photothermal materials, and phase change materials (PCMs), and are expected to achieve all‐day anti‐icing in various fields. Finally, the latest achievements in developing MPSS surfaces, showcasing their immense potential, are highlighted. Besides, the perspectives on the future development of MPSS surfaces are provided and the problems that need to be solved in their practical applications are proposed.

Freezing–Melting Mediated Dewetting Transition for Droplets on Superhydrophobic Surfaces with Condensation

“…Superhydrophobic surfaces have numerous applications such as self-cleaning, anticorrosion, antifogging, anti-icing, flow drag reduction, and heat transfer enhancement. − They are designed by inducing the Cassie–Baxter states of droplets, where air pockets exist beneath the droplet, preventing close contact of the droplet with the surface. However, the air pockets are gone when condensate droplets invade and fill the cavities between the micro/nanostructures of superhydrophobic surfaces, leading to the Wenzle states of the droplets and hence the loss of superhydrophobicity.…”