Bio-Inspired Anti-Icing Material as an Energy-Saving Design toward Sustainable Ice Repellency

To avoid disastrous consequences from ice deposition, solar anti-icing surfaces (SASs) have performed the potential of anti-icing application because of their excellent photothermal de-icing effect in the daytime. However, the deposition of ice still cannot be prevented due to the lack of solar energy at cold night, inevitably requiring extra energy consumption such as electrical heating. In this work, a bio-inspired anti-icing material (BAM) is presented, showing an energy-saving design for sustainable ice repellency. By integrating a phase change microcapsule (PCM) layer with a superhydrophobic photothermal (SPT) layer, the BAM can delay icing for more than 8 h at cold night without any external energy. Different from traditional SASs, the PCM layer can store energy in the daytime and release heat energy for keeping temperature up freezing point at night. In addition, the SPT layer displays excellent solar-to-heat conversion for sufficient energy and robust self-cleaning property for avoiding the blockage of sunlight from the contaminants or molten water, thereby resulting in the excellent icing delay. Therefore, this design can be developed and utilized for sustainable ice repellent applications such as power transmission, building infrastructure, and transportation networks.