Icing behavior of supercooled droplets on superhydrophobic polymercoatings between lotus effect and petal effect

Abstract This paper investigated anti-icing behavior and wettability of droplets on superhydrophobic polymercoatings between lotus effect and petal effect, which were prepared on surfaces of 2021 aluminum alloy with 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-heptafluorodecyl (FAS-17). The prepared surfaces displayed excellent hydrophobicity with contact angles of 154.9° ± 1.5°and 139.8° ± 1.3°, while rolling angles are 4° ± 1.0° (lotus effect) and 30° ± 1.5° (petal effect). Thus, the present study focused on the different characterizations and the anti-icing potential of the superhydrophobic polymersurfaces were analyzed based on three parameters including the icing delay time, the crystallization temperature of water droplets, and contact time of impinging droplets on the cold superhydrophobic polymer coatings (−15 °C). Furthermore, the anti-icing of superhydrophobic coatings between lotus effect and petal effect with freezing time and crystallization temperature experimental phenomena were consistent with the thermodynamic analysis. It is also proved that the droplets have different bounce behavior on different polymercoating surfaces by droplet impact experiment. The study offers a comprehensive perspective on polymercoatings of different wetttablility for anti-icing behavior applications.