Icephobicity of polydimethylsiloxane-b-poly(fluorinated acrylate)

A facile process to fabricate icephobic surfaces was developed by spin-coating the polydimethylsiloxane-b-poly(fluorinated acrylate) (PDMS-b-PFA) block copolymers on the substrate. The surface microstructure and chemical composition of the block copolymer films can be adjusted by changing the PDMS content. Icephobic properties of the copolymer surface were mainly ascribed to flexible-hard microphase separation and the ratio of fluorine to silicon. The appropriate microphase domain size and the fluorine/silicon ratio could weaken the interaction of ice and copolymer surface and delay icing of water droplets on the copolymer surface. The copolymers containing 15wt.% PDMS showed the most outstanding icephobicity by depressing the interaction between ice and the copolymer surface. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.