Superhydrophobic antiicing and ice-release polymer coatings

Icephobicity is the prevention of ice formation on a solid surface by repelling ice due to certain surface chemistry or topographical structure and it dates back to 1950. When ice forms on the surface of airplanes, aircraft wings, helicopters, ships, power transmission lines, telecommunication devices, and wind turbines, it jeopardizes their performance and therefore should be prevented. Scraping the surface mechanically, spraying glycol solvents on the surface, and heating the surface are typical strategies usually performed. All these methods are time-consuming, expensive, and have environmental risks. Coating the surface with appropriate layers, if possible, can lower the formation of ice on these objects. Different designs for ice-resistant coatings are available now but are mostly temporary and protect the surface for a limited number of cycles. There are various approaches to tackle this phenomenon: sacrificial coatings in which silicone oil is impregnated on the surface, ice-phobic coatings, and those covered by superhydrophobic coatings containing low surface energy components such as fluorine and silicone groups are today being employed. In this chapter, the mechanism behind the ice formation is firstly explained and the morphology of ice is described, this follows by the possible interactions it has with the surface. Different coating types including nanoparticle and low surface energy particle-based coatings, organic-inorganic coatings, self-assembled ones and those containing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) and sol-gel types are described.