Electrolyte Composition Tuning for Tailored Morphology and Enhanced Anti‐Icing Performance of PFA Superhydrophobic Coatings

ABSTRACT Surface icing poses significant operational and economic risks in aerospace and power transmission. Superhydrophobic perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) coatings fabricated via electrodeposition offer promising anti‐icing properties; however, their performance depends critically on electrolyte composition. This study employed response surface methodology to optimize key electrolyte variables: PFA concentration, MgCl 2 concentration, and ethanol‐to‐water volume ratio. The ethanol‐to‐water ratio emerged as the dominant factor to control the coating micro/nanostructure and multi‐factor delay icing coefficient by governing hydrogen generation, PFA electrophoretic mobility, solution polarity and ion dissociation. An optimized formulation (PFA: 5.96 g/L, MgCl 2 : 0.128 g/L, ethanol‐water: 49.4:0.6) yielded a coating with minimized solid–liquid contact area. At −10°C, this coating extended droplet freezing time by 52.84 times, enhanced droplet rolling by 49%, increased bounce residence time by 10 ms, and achieved static/dynamic anti‐icing rates of 80.9%/90.7% after 200 min. These improvements stem from smaller, more uniform pores reducing moisture penetration and ice adhesion.