Interfacial metamaterials for icing mitigation

Ice formation and accumulation pose significant challenges across numerous fields, highlighting the necessity for innovative mitigation solutions. Metamaterials---engineered materials that transcend natural limitations---have emerged as a compelling alternative for combating icing by precisely manipulating interfacial interactions at the ice-substrate boundary. This review provides a comprehensive and systematic analysis of interfacial metamaterials designed for icing mitigation, focusing on their chemical, physical, thermal, and mechanical interactions with water and ice. These specialized metamaterials, which regulate surface-matter interactions through artificial structuring, are categorized based on their structural scale into nano-, micro-, macro-, and multiscale-textured surfaces. By synthesizing the latest advancements in anti-icing and de-icing mechanisms, we pinpoint the potential of interfacial metamaterials to revolutionize future material designs for effective and sustainable icing mitigation.