Highly cross‐linked UV‐cured siloxane copolymer networks as icephobic coatings

Abstract

Preventing ice growth on infrastructure, vehicles, and appliances remains a significant engineering challenge. Damage caused by ice growth on these installations can be expensive to repair, and their failure can be dangerous. Materials such as cross‐linked polymer networks make effective anti‐ice coatings and can prevent ice growth: reducing the cost of infrastructure repairs and limiting downtime. A link between cross‐link density and ice adhesion has been demonstrated, such that lower cross‐link density materials tend toward lower ice adhesion. Here we describe a method of lowering cross‐link density by incorporating the covalently bound comonomers methyl methacrylate, lauryl methacrylate, and styrene into UV‐cured PDMS‐based polymer networks. Cross‐link density, hardness, surface roughness, and ice adhesion on these materials are tested, showing the influence of comonomer proportions on their properties. Durability is found to increase with the addition of 5, 10, and 25 wt% comonomer, with little to no effect on ice adhesion until 25 wt%, where increases in ice adhesion are observed. Coatings show promisingly low ice adhesion of ~50 kPa, maintaining this low adhesion for up to 50 deicing cycles.

Robust icephobic coating based on the spiky fluorinated Al2O3 particles

“…Generally, icephobic surfaces should: prevent freezing of water condensing on the surface, prevent freezing of incoming water if ice formed, and they should have as weak adhesion strength with the solid as possible 1 , 3 , 12 , 25 . In spite of a much effort invested into the development and manufacturing of icephobic surfaces the interfaces, which repel efficiently ice, remain scarce 24 – 27 . We conclude that the development of the effective anti-icing surfaces remains a challenging scientific and engineering problem.…”

A delicately designed functional binder enabling in situ construction of 3D cross‐linking robust network for high‐performance Si/graphite composite anode

“…Siloxane is often used as functional material and polymer solid electrolyte, but it is rarely used as binder 37–39 . Herein lithium acrylate acid (AALi) and vinyl triethoxy silane (VTEO) were copolymerized in water to afford a functional siloxane‐containing aqueous binder (PAA‐VTEO) via a free‐radical initiated polymerization mechanism.…”

“…Siloxane is often used as functional material and polymer solid electrolyte, but it is rarely used as binder. [37][38][39] Herein lithium acrylate acid (AALi) and vinyl triethoxy silane (VTEO) were copolymerized in water to afford a functional siloxane-containing aqueous binder (PAA-VTEO) via a free-radical initiated polymerization mechanism. The VTEO moieties in the copolymer are anticipated to be hydrolyzed under weak acid/alkali conditions and produce Si OH groups, which are easy to condense with the Si OH from both silicon particles and the copolymer themselves to form a Si O Si chemical bond.…”

Self-healing anti-icing coatings prepared from PDMS polyurea

“…Recently, liquid-infused slippery surfaces containing inert lubricants have gained much attraction for anti-icing, which could have the ice shear strength low to 10 kPa [2,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…For instance, Coady et al [11,12] introduced silicone oil in the UV-cured siloxane resins to enhance both icephobicity and durability, and the ice shear strength reached the value below 10 kPa and maintained up to 10 icing/deicing cycles. Golovin et al [13] prepared a tough PDMS coating with low shear strength as low as 0.09 kPa by adding silicone oil to the PDMS or other polymer coatings, and the deicing area could be large about ~1 m 2 .…”