An electroless nickel plating fabric coated with photothermal Chinese ink for powerful passive anti-icing/icephobic and fast active deicing

The icing phenomenon has caused much inconvenience to people's life. With the continuous progress of technology, it has been found that hydrophobic materials can be used in the anti-icing field, however icing still occurs on hydrophobic surfaces with long-term using in extremely harsh environments. Therefore, materials with anti-icing/icephobic and deicing functionalities have become an innovative strategy. In this paper, photothermal hydrophobic materials with anti-icing/icephobic and photothermal deicing properties are prepared using the photothermal nickel, Chinese ink and polydimethylhydrosiloxane with low surface energy. Due to the synergistic effect of the photothermal nickel nanoparticles and carbon nanoparticles in Chinese ink, the prepared material has a fast temperature rise rate at 1000 W/m2, which can reach the equilibrium temperature of 72 °C within 80 s. The freezing time of water droplets can be delayed to 1018 s at −15 °C, which is 11 times longer than that of nickel-plated materials. The ice on the coating melts rapidly and slides off along the inclined surface under the sunlight, proving that the material has a good photothermal deicing performance. Additionally, the coated surface has excellent wear resistance and UV resistance, which can be used outdoors for a long time. This powerful electroless nickel plating fabric, integrated with anti-icing/icephobic and fast deicing functionality with photothermal and drag reduction effect, provides a new approach to solve the icing problem in outdoor clothing.