Improving the anti-icing performance of superhydrophobic surfaces by nucleation inhibitor

To investigate the effect of heterogeneous nucleation sites on the anti-icing performance of superhydrophobic surfaces, the superhydrophobic POSS/PDMS coatings were prepared and covered by PVA through spraying coating method. The surface morphology was characterized by SEM, and the anti-icing performance of surfaces was characterized through contact angle, freezing temperature of surface water droplet and ice adhesion. The results show that with the optimum match of the particle distance and PVA spraying times, the PVA-POSS/PDMS coating has better anti-icing performance than superhydrophobic POSS/PDMS coating: the freezing temperature of droplet on PVA-POSS/PDMS coating surface is −22.55°C, approximately 2°C lower than POSS/PDMS coating surface. This work confirms the adverse effect of heterogeneous nucleation sites and successfully improves the anti-icing performance of superhydrophobic surface by covering the heterogeneous nucleation sites with nucleation inhibitor. The synergism of nucleation inhibitor and the micro-nano structures is proposed, which will be conducive to the design of high-performance anti-icing materials.