Phys.org February 27, 2024
An international team of researchers (Austria, Italy) deposited gradient polymers in one step via initiated chemical vapor deposition as an effective coating to mitigate ice accretion and reduce ice adhesion. The gradient structures easily overcame adhesion, stability, and durability issues of traditional fluorinated coatings. The coatings showed promising ice phobic performance by reducing ice adhesion, depressing the freezing point, delaying drop freezing, and inhibiting ice nucleation and frost propagation. They confirmed that lipophobicity correlated with surface energy discontinuities at the surface plane resulting from the random orientation of the fluorinated groups of PFDA. It could be further improved by tuning the surface crystallinity rather than surface wetting. The iCVD-manufactured coatings showed promising results, indicating the potential for ice control on larger scales and various applications… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Graphical abstract. Credit: ACS Appl. Mater. Interface, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXX, February 24, 2024Â