Bioinspired Multifunctional Anti-icing Hydrogel

The ice formation processes on solid surfaces are complex and diverse, which makes it a daunting challenge to design an icephobic material that is functional under different icing conditions in a complex varying real-life environment. Here, inspired by anti-freeze proteins, a multifunctional anti-icing platform based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-grafted polyelectrolyte hydrogel is reported, which can simultaneously inhibit ice nucleation, prevent ice growth, and reduce ice adhesion. The properties of interfacial water can be controlled by tuning the synergy of hydrophobicity and ion specificity, in contrast with the conventional wholly hydrophobic bulk systems (e.g., PDMS). This provides us a promising route to integrate various icephobic advantages into one material. The controllability of interfacial water grants the polyelectrolyte hydrogel coating high performance in inhibiting ice nucleation (ice nucleation temperature lower than −30°C), preventing ice propagation (ice propagation rate lower than 0.002 cm2/s), and reducing ice adhesion (ice adhesion strength lower than 20 kPa).