Anti-icing and deicing characteristics of photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces based on metal nanoparticles and carbon nanotube materials

To deal with the hazards of ice accumulation in the industry and daily life, clean and efficient anti-icing solutions are urgently needed. Solar energy is a powerful and clean energy source, integrating the solar photothermal effect into the micro-nano structured superhydrophobic surface can stimulate a mutually reinforced anti-icing/deicing performance, breaking the bottleneck of a single superhydrophobic surface. In this study, two different photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces are prepared in a facile way. The micro-nano hierarchical structures of the two surfaces are composed of photothermal materials, i.e., metal nanoparticles and carbon nanotube materials, respectively, which can withstand the continuous impact of liquid droplets and maintain superhydrophobicity in the low-temperature environment. The excellent superhydrophobicity significantly prolongs the freezing time of droplets. Due to the broad-band light absorption and high absorptivity of metal nanoparticles and carbon nanotube materials, the surfaces are heated to above 0 °C with rapid thermal response under solar irradiation, and frozen ice droplets can spontaneously fall from the tilted surfaces before complete melting. These results verify the effective anti-icing/deicing capability of prepared photothermal superhydrophobic surfaces, which are promising in various engineering application scenarios.