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Durable Design of Superhydrophobic Coatings with TiO2 Particles and Al2O3 Whiskers for the Enhanced Anti-icing Performance

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Abstract

Superhydrophobic coatings with high non-wetting properties are widely applied in anti-icing applications. However, the micro-nanostructures on the surfaces of superhydrophobic coatings are fragile under external forces, resulting in reduced durability. Therefore, mechanical strength and durability play a crucial role in the utilization of superhydrophobic materials. In this study, we employed a two-step spraying method to fabricate superhydrophobic FEVE-based coatings with exceptional mechanical durability, utilizing fluorinated TiO2 nanoparticles and fluorinated Al2O3 microwhiskers as the fillers. The composite coating exhibited commendable non-wetting properties, displaying a contact angle of 164.84° and a sliding angle of 4.3°. On this basis, the stability of coatings was significantly improved due to the interlocking effect of Al2O3 whiskers. After 500 tape peeling cycles, 500 sandpaper abrasion tests, and 50 kg falling sand impact tests, the coatings retained superhydrophobicity, exhibiting excellent durability and application capability. Notably, the ice adhesion strength on the coatings was measured at only 65.4 kPa, while the icing delay time reached 271.8 s at -15 °C. In addition, throughout 500 freezing/melting cycles, statistical analysis revealed that the superhydrophobic coatings exhibited a freezing initiation temperature as low as -17.25 °C.

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Data Availability

All data included in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52075246, U2341264), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20211568), International Cooperation Project of Jiangsu Province (No. BZ2023045), National Science and Technology Major Project of China (No. J2019-III-0010-0054), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. NE2022005), Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory of Aircraft Ice Protection (No. XFX20220301), Basic Research Project of Suzhou (No. SJC2022032), Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. Project Funded by 2022 large instruments and equipment test fee of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

    Weilan Liu & Yaru Ni

  2. College of Materials Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, 211100, China

    Weilan Liu, Kunlong Li, Yizhou Shen, Zeyu Cai, Lingfeng Zhao & Zhen Wang

  3. Aviation Industry Aerodynamics Research Institute of China, Shenyang, 110000, China

    Huanyu Zhao

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  1. Weilan Liu
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Correspondence to Yizhou Shen or Yaru Ni.

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Liu, W., Li, K., Shen, Y. et al. Durable Design of Superhydrophobic Coatings with TiO2 Particles and Al2O3 Whiskers for the Enhanced Anti-icing Performance. J Bionic Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-024-00516-4

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