Antifreeze-Infused Superhydrophobic Surface with Superb Anti-icing and Antifrosting Performance

As an attempt to combine antifreeze and superhydrophobicity, propylene glycol (PG) is encaged in a porous superhydrophobic skeleton composed of ZnO tetrapods and polydimethylsiloxane. At room temperature, the PG-infused skeleton presents a large contact angle, a small sliding angle, and good repellency against impacting water drops, while it effectively defers frost emergence and growth in humid and cooling conditions. The PG-infused skeleton delays the frost onset 6 and 18 times longer than the superhydrophobic skeleton and silicone oil-infused skeleton, respectively. Moreover, it can repeatedly serve as a frost-deterrent surface up to 10 times without replenishment and is durable under frosting/defrosting cycles. The merits are ascribed to the nonaffinity between glycol and the skeleton, the humidity sink effect, and self-secretion of glycol out of the skeleton under cooling. The former lets the surface asperities of the skeleton be exposed. And the latter imparts good anti-icing, antifrosting, and deicing performance to the PG-infused skeleton. The work provides insights into liquid-infused surfaces and ice-phobic surfaces.