Anti-icing and anti-frost properties of structured superhydrophobic coatings based on aluminum honeycombs

Superhydrophobic coatings have many potential applications in prevention of ice, frost, condensation, and corrosion due to their strong hydrophobicity and self-cleaning function. However, superhydrophobic coatings do not have ideal mechanical stability in engineering applications, and the coatings lose their superhydrophobic properties with wear. We propose an innovative combination of a macroscopic aluminum honeycomb structure with a superhydrophobic coating to prepare a mechanically stable, structured coating by a simple spraying process. The coating showed excellent performance in laboratory ice, frosting, and outdoor ice tests. Compared with common superhydrophobic coatings, the total ice-up time of single droplet was prolonged by 190 s on a platform at-15 C because of the reduced heat transfer between the macro-honeycomb wall and the droplets. After 300 wear tests, the frosting amount increased by only 0.03 g when the platform was tilted to 60% at-20 C and 75 & PLUSMN; 5% humidity. In the outdoor ice test, no large area of ice was observed on the surface. Our findings provide a new strategy for industrialization of superhydrophobic coating, and our strategy has potential appli-cations in anti-icing and anti-condensation for electrical equipment, drag reduction, and anti-corrosion.

Automated summary

The combination of a macroscopic aluminum honeycomb structure and a superhydrophobic coating can create a mechanically stable coating with excellent performance in preventing ice, frost, and condensation. This finding provides a new strategy for industrialization of superhydrophobic coatings and has potential applications in various fields including anti-icing and anti-condensation for electrical equipment, drag reduction, and anti-corrosion.