A skin-inspired durable de-icing surface with boosting interfacial cracks

Fracture-based interfacial breakage has shown promise in efficiently removing ice accretion. Here, intrigued by the response of human skin to stress-induced deformation, we present a strategy to design tough-skin de-icing surfaces (TSDSs) that actively manipulate crack-induced ice-substrate interfacial breakage during ice removal. This design leverages the surface instability of thin films to generate extensive wrinkling at the ice-substrate interface, which serves as crack initiation sites. We demonstrate efficient ice shedding by creating wrinkles at two length scales: macro-wrinkles for actively initiating the cracks at the rim of the ice and micro-wrinkles for further promoting the stress concentration at the ice-substrate interface. The TSDS (τ < 10 kPa) displays excellent durability and weather resistance, achieving a large-area ice-self-shedding effect solely through gravity. The universality of the proposed mechanism is verified on multiple materials and potential applications. This design concept offers valuable insights into the creation of durable de-icing materials with enhanced ice-shedding properties.