Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2025

Fabrication of Superhydrophobic Metal Surfaces for Anti-Icing Applications
Published on: August 15, 2018
Fabrication of photo-responsive self-deicing surface with micro-nano rough structures on fabrics
Chaohui Deng1, Jinrui Xue1, Jianming Wang2
1Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310018, PR China; Zhejiang Provincial Innovation Center of Advanced Textile Technology, Shaoxing, Zhejiang 312000, PR China.
Abstract:
Photothermal superhydrophobic treatment is an effective anti-icing and de-icing method, avoiding damage to equipment caused by ice accumulation in winter. However, the traditional photothermal materials were expensive and the photothermal conversion coatings are hard to remove when unnecessary. Herein, three biochar microspheres with solid, hollow, and flower-like structures (SBMs, HBMs, FBMs) were fabricated to construct photothermal superhydrophobic coatings on the polyester fabric (PET), respectively. The photothermal conversion efficiency of the coating constructed with flower-like biochar microspheres (FBMs@PPF) reached 95.42 %, and the ice (500 μL) can be completely melted into water under a simulated solar light source (1000 W/m2, -10 ℃) for 5 min. The water contact angle (WCA) and rolling angle (RA) on FBMs@PPF reached 162.6° and 1.5° respectively. Droplets can slide off the coating easily with a tilt angle (>1.5°). The coating prepared by flower-like biochar microspheres exhibited greater photo-responsive self-deicing ability. The covered fabric coating can be removed easily, which may provide a useful reference for the prevention of frost disasters.

