Icephobic armored ceramic via hierarchical microarchitecture engineering: Achieving damage-tolerant surfaces with sustained dynamic anti-icing performance

A mechanically robust superhydrophobic ceramic armor with a hybrid frame/protrusion microstructure was fabricated using nanosecond laser technology. This architecture exhibited exceptional durability, enduring 1000 cycles of linear abrasion (3 N load), 40 high-pressure water jet impact (1.0 MPa), and prolonged thermal exposure (100 °C for 18 days). The armored surface demonstrated superior anti-icing performance, accelerating droplet shedding (no adhesion for 2 h), delaying ice nucleation by approximately threefold, and maintaining ice adhesion strength below 35 kPa after 30 freeze-thaw cycles. The simplified fabrication process, requiring minimal surface precision, underscores its potential for scalable industrial deployment. Superhydrophobic ceramic armor with hybrid frame/projection microstructure prepared by nanosecond laser technology. The layered structure combines the synergistic structure of micro-frame and nano-scale protrusions, embodies the characteristics of multi-scale roughness, and shows excellent ice resistance. • Multistage microstructures with both frames and nanoprocesses are prepared by nanosecond laser technology to simplify the process and reduce the cost. • The microframe disperses the macroscopic stress, the nano-protruding protects the functional unit, and collaborates to stabilize the Cassie-Baxter hydrophobic state. • Withstand 800 linear wear (3 N), 40 high-pressure water jet impacts (1.0 MPa) and high temperatures (100 °C, 16 days) through layered microarchitecture design. • The ice core formation time is delayed by more than 3 times, the ice adhesion strength is less than 35 kPa (30 freeze-thaw cycles), and the ultra-cold droplet has no adhesion for 2 h.