A Transparent Photothermal-Enhanced Self-Lubricating Coating with Durable Icephobicity

In this work, a transparent coating with durable icephobicity fabricated from MXene and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is presented. MXene nanosheets were assembled via the layer-by-layer technique into a transparent multilayer (<i>n</i>MXene, <i>n</i> is the number of MXene layers assembled) with photothermal conversion ability, onto which a cross-linked PDMS containing silicone oil (SO) was deposited, forming a composite coating with a PDMS slippery liquid-infused porous surface (SLIPS) and an <i>n</i>MXene photothermal underlayer, and the effects of <i>n</i> and the thickness of the PDMS-SO on the coating properties were studied. It was found that the 3MXene-PDMS-SO coating of 200 μm thickness exhibited a transmittance of 80% at 550 nm wavelength, and in a cold environment of -20 °C, the coating was able to increase the surface temperature by 7.4 °C under 1 sun illumination, significantly delaying ice formation and reducing the ice adhesion strength (τ_ice) on the surface. Under these conditions, the surface maintained a low τ_ice of ∼30 kPa after 100 icing/deicing cycles, showing durable icephobicity.