Design of an Advanced Composite Surface for Low Ice Adhesion: Integrating Active and Passive Anti-/Deicing Strategies to Disrupt Icing Interfaces

Icing presents substantial economic challenges and endangers equipment safety. Contemporary anti-icing research emphasizes the integration of active and passive technologies, with a particular focus on mitigating ice adhesion for more efficient anti-icing and deicing solutions. In this study, a multilayer composite antideicing surface is developed, integrating energy storage, photo-/electro-thermal functionalities, and superslippery properties. The top quasi-solid slippery layer, composed of epoxy resin embedded with oil-stored graphene nanoparticles, provides stable hydrophobic performance for various water-based liquids, reducing ice adhesion to approximately 25 kPa. Furthermore, the energy storage layer at the base introduces heterogeneity in the icing timeline across regions, leveraging volumetric expansion during the water phase transition to disturb the ice interface, achieving adhesion reductions to around 12 kPa. The intermediate layer features photo-/electro-thermal capabilities, enabling surface temperature elevation upon application of electrical or optical energy, melting interfacial ice, and forming a liquid film. This process disrupts the frozen interface, further lowering the ice adhesion force to below 1 kPa. The synergistic interaction between photo-/electro-thermal effects and the superslippery surface significantly enhances the anti-icing and deicing efficiency of the composite structure. These findings offer promising advancements for engineering applications requiring high-efficiency active and passive anti-icing/deicing strategies.