Bioinspired Tough Organohydrogel Dynamic Interfaces Enabled Subzero Temperature Antifrosting, Deicing, and Antiadhesion
Fan Chen, Ziyao Xu, Haifei Wang, Stephan Handschuh‐Wang, Ben Wang, Xuechang Zhou
Abstract
Icing of water (moisture) at subzero temperatures with different length scales is harmful to a variety of applications spanning from large-scale aircraft to small camera lens. Existing strategies relying on controlling the surface structure and material are encumbered with shortcomings of short frost delay time, poor durability, and difficulty in large-scale production. Inspired from the mucus secretion of mollusks, we introduce organohydrogel dynamic interfaces that can perform dynamic and reversible exchange of the cryoprotectant and water at the interface, resulting in exceptional antifrosting, antiadhesion, and deicing properties with long-term durability. The replenishable coating shows superlubrication to the surface ice with a sliding angle up to 1.9 ± 0.4o and a frost delay time up to 970 ± 31 min in the presence of water spray (99% relative humidity) at subzero temperatures. The strategy offers a reliable and scalable solution to prevent engineering surfaces, i.e., aircraft, pavement, bridge, and other public facilities, from icing/frosting and ice adhesion, even under extreme cold environments.