Transparent Organogel Films Showing Extremely Efficient and Durable Anti-Icing Performance

Abstract

Accumulation of ice and snow on solid surfaces causes destructive problems in our daily life. Therefore, the development of functional coatings/surfaces that can effectively prevent ice/snow adhesion by natural forces, such as airflow, vibration, solar radiation, or gravity, is in high demand. In this study, transparent organogel films possessing negligible ice adhesion strength were successfully designed by a simple crosslinking of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) in the presence of commercially available oils. Both the molecular weights (MWs) of the infusing oils and their contents in the PDMS matrices have proven to be key parameters for primarily determining the crosslinking density of PDMS matrices and syneresis/nonsyneresis behaviors of our samples, which closely reflected the final surface static/dynamic dewetting and anti-icing properties. By tuning only these two parameters, three different types of transparent organogel films, that is, nonsyneresis organogel (NSG), self-lubricating organogel (SLUG-I, infused with highly mobile oils), and SLUG-II (infused with viscous oils) films, were prepared. Among them, on the SLUG-I films, the lubricating oils were found to be continuously released from the PDMS matrices through syneresis for more than 1 year. Due to this unusual syneresis behavior, the ice adhesion strength became virtually zero, and this excellent anti-icing property also remained almost unchanged even after several cycles of icing/deicing testing. On the other hand, in the case of SLUG-II films, as the lubricated oil layers were too viscous, ice had trouble sliding off the surfaces by gravity. In contrast to these SLUG films, ice adhesion strength on NSG films was markedly decreased by increasing the amount of the infusing oils. In spite of NSG films having no distinct mobile oil layer, the ice adhesion strength reached its minimum of only about 5 kPa.

Adhesion of fluid infused silicone elastomer to glass

“…Asperities on the glass surface could lead to a poor ''seal'' which would work against pressure buildup near the interface. As a result, fluid trapped at the interface 93 would not be taken up by the elastomer leading to consistently poor adhesion. Another reason for poor pressure buildup could be due to the poor permeability of silicone oil through the medium under compression perhaps due to the comparable size of the fluid molecule and the elastomer mesh size.…”

Effective Approach to Render Stable Dynamic Omniphobicity and Icephobicity to Ultrasmooth Metal Surfaces

“…Surface roughness was estimated using an atomic force microscope (AFM, Multimode Nanoscope 8, Bruker) equipped with a cantilever of 40 N/m spring constant and 300 kHz response frequency (Bruker) in a tapping mode. The ice-adhesion tests were performed based on our previous reports. − Briefly, the ice-adhesion strength was measured by forming a cylindrical ice pillar on the sample surfaces and applying force with a stainless pole in the lateral direction until it peeled off. This ice-adhesion test was performed in a refrigerator kept at −15 °C using a homemade ice-adhesion strength tester.…”

Thermo-responsive Fluorinated Organogels Showing Anti-fouling and Long-Lasting/Repeatable Icephobic Properties

“…Ice accretion on solid surfaces is a major problem for modern infrastructure that can severely impact their performance and can even lead to catastrophic consequences. For example, ice accumulations on solar cell panels, wind turbines, cooling systems, traffic lights, road signs, and ships can all lead to reduced performance, while such accumulations on power lines, rooftops, and airplane wings can have more hazardous consequences such as widespread power outages, injuries from falling ice, and fatal plane crashes, respectively. − Although current methods to avoid such ice accretions involve active mechanical, thermal, and/or chemical de-icing of the surfaces, these methods are costly and inefficient and can be detrimental to the environment. Therefore, passive anti-icing alternatives such as coatings/surfaces that can prevent ice formation or allow it to be easily removed by natural forces such as gravity, wind, vibrations, or solar radiation have been of significant interest in recent years. , To realize such icephobicity, ice adhesion strength (τ ice ) must be below 10 kPa. − However, despite the increasing number of publications on icephobicity, development of coatings/surfaces showing such extremely low ice adhesion strength and high transparency is rare and still very challenging .…”