Icephobic Gradient Polymer Coatings Deposited via iCVD: A Novel Approach for Icing Control and Mitigation

Abstract

Materials against ice formation and accretion are highly desirable for different industrial applications and daily activities affected by icing. Although several concepts have been proposed, no material has so far shown wide-ranging icephobic features, enabling durability and manufacturing on large scales. Herein, we present gradient polymers made of 1,3,5,7-tetravinyl-1,3,5,7-tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (V4D4) and 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl acrylate (PFDA) deposited in one step via initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) as an effective coating to mitigate ice accretion and reduce ice adhesion. The gradient structures easily overcome adhesion, stability, and durability issues of traditional fluorinated coatings. The coatings show promising icephobic performance by reducing ice adhesion, depressing the freezing point, delaying drop freezing, and inhibiting ice nucleation and frost propagation. Icephobicity correlates with surface energy discontinuities at the surface plane resulting from the random orientation of the fluorinated groups of PFDA, as confirmed by grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction measurements. The icephobicity could be further improved by tuning the surface crystallinity rather than surface wetting, as samples with random crystal orientation show the lowest ice adhesion despite high contact angle hysteresis. The iCVD-manufactured coatings show promising results, indicating the potential for ice control on larger scales and various applications.

Vapor Phase Deposition of Porous Polymer Dendrites

“…The dendrites on the uncoated (Figure c,e) and coated substrate (Figure d,f) have finger-like features; however, the dendrites on the coated substrate are more compact, with shorter branches less than 100 μm long in contrast to 200–300 μm on the uncoated substrate. The PPFDA coating delays nucleation and diffusion on the surface as shown in anti-icing applications . Effective anti-icing coatings significantly delay nucleation on the surface, but they are unable to fully prevent ice formation over extended periods of time. , …”