Gradient Liquid-Like Interface Engineering for Durable Transparent Anti-Icing and Anti-Frosting Coatings

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Surface Chemistry
• Optoelectronics

Background:

• Ice and frost accumulation degrade outdoor photovoltaic and optoelectronic systems by blocking light and causing instability.
• Existing passive anti-icing coatings often fail to balance transparency, anti-icing capability, and long-term durability.
• Liquid-like coatings offer transparency but typically lack mechanical robustness due to high interfacial mobility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a durable, transparent anti-icing coating that overcomes the trade-off between mechanical robustness and surface mobility.
• To engineer a biomimetic gradient interface for enhanced anti-icing and anti-frosting properties.
• To demonstrate the effectiveness of this coating on outdoor photovoltaic systems.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a gradient liquid-like coating using a one-step plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process.
• Utilizing hexamethyltrisiloxane and 1,3,5,7-tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane as precursors for surface and framework construction.
• Characterization of surface properties using atomic force measurements to assess water-repellency, mobility, and friction.

Main Results:

• The gradient coating exhibits a compliant, low-friction surface with reduced water pinning, enhancing anti-icing performance.
• The coating demonstrates prolonged freezing delay, low ice adhesion, and exceptional durability over 100 icing/deicing and 40,000 abrasion cycles.
• Transparent anti-icing coatings preserved high transparency and significantly improved solar cell power conversion efficiency under frosting conditions (10.01% vs. 5.18%).

Conclusions:

• Gradient plasma-polymerized liquid-like interfaces offer a practical solution for durable, transparent anti-icing and anti-frosting protection.
• This approach effectively addresses the limitations of current anti-icing technologies for outdoor photovoltaic and optoelectronic systems.
• The biomimetic gradient engineering strategy provides a pathway for developing robust and efficient anti-icing surfaces.