Recent advances of bio-inspired anti-icing surfaces

The need for improved anti-icing surfaces is the demand of the time and closely related to many important aspects of our lives as surface icing threatens not only industrial production but also human safety. Freezing on a cold surface is usually a heterogeneous nucleation process induced by the substrate. Creating an anti-icing surface is mainly achieved by changing surface morphology and chemistry to regulate the interaction between the surface and the water/ice to inhibit freezing on the surface. In this paper, recent research progress in the creation of biomimetic anti-icing surfaces is reviewed. Firstly, basic strategies of bionic anti-icing are introduced, and then bionic anti-icing surface strategies are reviewed according to four aspects: the process of ice formation, including condensate self-removing, inhibiting ice nucleation, reducing ice adhesion, and melting accumulated ice on the surface. The remaining challenges and the direction of future development of biomimetic anti-icing surfaces are also discussed.