Development and Implementation of Microbial Antifreeze Protein Based Coating for Anti‐Icing

Abstract

Ice formation on a solid surface is a major challenge in industrial applications, it causes higher energy consumption and performance deterioration and may lead to catastrophic results. The preparation of anti‐icing surfaces to prohibit ice accumulation on a surface is crucial to reduce operational costs and to extend the surface's lifetime. The utilization of cryoprotectants to obtain anti‐icing surfaces is an effective method and is applicable in multiple fields. Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are natural cryoprotectants to obtain anti‐icing surfaces, which have the ability to decrease the freezing point and to prevent ice‐crystal growth via thermal hysteresis (TH) and ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI). This study reports the molecular cloning, expression, and production of AFP protein from Escherichia coli (E. Coli). This wok also demonstrates the activity of coated AFP on aluminum surfaces. The expressed AFP is immobilized on aluminum surfaces treated by oxygen plasma. The coated AFP exhibits promising antifreeze activity with a high anti‐icing ability on aluminum surfaces in the size of evaporator fins (40 × 40 cm). The outcome of this study provides new insights into the biotechnological implementation of AFPs to various industrial applications for energy‐saving and higher performance.

Early-Stage Ice Detection Utilizing High-Order Ultrasonic Guided Waves

“…Coatings on substrate materials can create anti-icing surfaces to prohibit ice accumulation [27]. In this study, we explored two group of samples, coated and uncoated, to monitor changes in acoustic parameters during freezing processes and investigate the differences between the coated and uncoated cases.…”

“…The technique was experimentally tested on 1.5 mm thick copper samples with different surface conditions. One sample served as a reference and had an original uncoated surface, while the other possessed a superhydrophobic multiscale coating (SHMC) that decreases ice adhesion strength and prevents ice formation [27,28]. Experimental investigations were conducted on both samples at surface temperatures ranging between +25 • C and −15 • C. The results demonstrated the successful detection of ice formation and illustrated the potential for monitoring the growth of the ice layer.…”

A Multilayer Photothermal Superhydrophobic Anti-Icing Coating Applied to Asphalt Pavement with Remarkable Wear Resistance

“…Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) represent a novel class of biological anti-icing materials, widely used in food processing and medical applications due to their freezing point reduction, ice crystal modification, and recrystallization inhibition properties. − Recently, AFPs have been explored for road anti-icing applications. Meng et al incorporated AFP derived from deep-sea cod into an emulsified asphalt coating, finding that the AFP-modified coating effectively delayed the freezing of surface water .…”