Holistic Anti/Dewetting Design of Anti/Deicing Superhydrophobic Surfaces (ADISS)

Anti/deicing superhydrophobic surfaces (ADISS) exhibit appealing capabilities of shedding water and delaying icing through the nonwetting Cassie–Baxter (C–B) state, whose maintenance should be a prerequisite for the practical applications of ADISS. However, the C–B state often suffers from inevitable degradation, while its recovery encounters significant challenges. Therefore, holistic antiwetting/dewetting designs deserve more attention to deal with multiscale water exposure of ADISS involving multifactorial interactions in time and space. Herein, three criteria were proposed for the design of nonwetting ADISS: high intrinsic contact angle, fine nanoscale structures, and appropriate spatial distribution of micro/nanostructures. By optimized air spraying, the target nanoengineered surfaces were constructed with a stable nano-Cassie state and improved anti-icing and antifrosting properties. Moreover, the dewetting ability to achieve the recovery of the C–B state was demonstrated, based on which a novel deicing mechanism involving coalescence-induced ice detachment has been revealed. This design method of ADISS is holistic and easy to execute, thus, having practical value in engineering applications.